Andrew flintoff quotes

Whatever was written in the media was beyond me. The only thing I could control was getting fit.

If I'm playing well I'll get through a bat in three weeks. I batter them.

When you bowl at him you are not just trying to get him out, you are trying to impress him. "I want him to walk off thinking 'that Flintoff, he's all right isn't he?" I feel privileged to have played against him.

I'm not keen on making predictions.

I can lose my temper from time to time, but I try not to lose it on the pitch because it can't help.

I'm completely different from Pietersen. He would turn up to the opening of an envelope

If you go out to bat against Australia, they come at you hard.

I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to facing Brett Lee again. He bowls at 95mph so enjoyment is not the word I would use.

Cricket is great, but I'm not as comfortable with everything else that goes with it.

But there is no danger of my not concentrating on cricket. I'm comfortable on the pitch, and that will never change. I have to remember what I do for a living

I'm not someone who needs to bat and bat to be in form.

That means I can drive a flock of sheep through the town centre, drink for free in no less than 64 pubs and get a lift home with the police when I become inebriated. What more could you want?

While I'm at second slip I'm not just thinking of what I'm going to have for tea. I'm considering the match as well, wondering how I can help, if there is anything I can offer.

When I have a day off, I will have a day off.

I'm not really superstitious - I don't have any lucky charms or a mascot.

When it comes to sledging, I think people often get the wrong view.

It's far more daunting than bowling to Ricky Ponting or facing Shane Warne

My family is not a distraction. They're the most important thing in my life.

In the past five weeks I've trained hard, trying to get my ankle back to where I want it to be

I like to think I'm calm. Sometimes I have arrived at the ground in the morning in a bad mood - you're not always going to be in the best of moods are you? - but by the time you get into the ground and you have a brew then it's normally fine.

There are times when I have felt the pressure, but at the moment I play cricket the only way I can.

Personally I prefer to work things out by feel, by instinct.

We have to take care of our own game. There's only one place we've got to stick up for ourselves and that's the pitch.

Sure, you can do without the hard personal comments, but it doesn't really happen apart from a few isolated incidents.

A lot of the lads have a bat for the nets, a bat for facing the bowling machine and a separate bat for the match. I'll just crack on with a bat until it breaks - then crack on with another one.

I'm ugly, I'm overweight, but I'm happy

There are of course mornings when you wouldn't mind a lie in.

If you're batting and you go off on one it can't really help you.

I've read a lot of Irvine Welsh - Trainspotting, Glue - he's written some beauties.

I'll take my iPod - though I'm not very good with gadgets to be honest - and that has everything I like.

I'm not too good with packing. I always have every intention of doing it the week before and then leave it until the last moment - but at least I do it myself, I don't leave it to the missus.

I have a varied taste, I'll listen to anything. Well, not anything, no techno.

I always listen to music before I go out to bat. Any track, really, just whatever I feel like at the time.

I'm not really someone who looks forward to the gym. But I realise it's something that I have to do to perform well on the pitch.

It's a big part of my life, listening to music and watching TV.

It's usually the funny comments which are the better ones - and they are good for the game.

Captaincy is something you get better at through experience. You've got to trust your instincts.

I'm comfortable in the way I play and comfortable in who I am.