Flintoff bullish over pressures

ADELAIDE—Captain Andrew Flintoff has shrugged off fears he is being asked to do too much as England try to keep the Ashes. In addition to his captaincy Flintoff is also expected to contribute as both a key bowler and batsman.
His poor showing with the bat in the first Test defeat has increased concerns over his workload but Flintoff has dismissed them. “The captaincy is not a distraction and I’m enjoying the job very much,” he told The Sun newspaper.
“If that was the case (a distraction), I shouldn’t be captain, but I don’t feel that at all. “People have been asking whether I had other things on my mind when I got out to Shane Warne in Brisbane, but that had nothing to do with it.
“I played a poor shot, simple as that. It was the same in the first innings when I groped at a ball from Brett Lee probably because I was a little anxious to feel bat on ball. We have to go into Friday’s Second Test in a positive frame of mind
“When I’m in the middle with a ball or bat in my hand, all I’m thinking about is either hitting it or bowling it.” England were hammered by 277 runs in the first Test in Brisbane but Flintoff is staying positive heading into Friday’s second Test in Adelaide.
“Trying to win this series now is a huge job, I realise that. But we can’t let losing the First Test dent our confidence. “In some ways, having another Test match so soon is good because it means we have to get straight back into it.
“We’re in a position most of us have been in before - 1-0 down in an Ashes series. And we all know what happened last time. “After losing at Lord’s last year, we went to Edgbaston and scored more than 400 on the first day.
“You can’t really set out to do something like that - it was just the way an amazing day’s cricket unfolded. “But the point is that we have to go into Friday’s Second Test in a positive frame of mind. “Just because we’ve lost a Test, we’ve not become a bad side or bad players. We have a lot of belief in ourselves.”—Agencies