Andrew Flintoff has been appointed head coach of Northern Superchargers in the Men's Hundred, marking a huge step forward for the former England allrounder.
The hero of the 2005 Ashes, who played over 200 times for his country across all formats, will replace James Foster, who was let go by Superchargers on Friday. While Flintoff has no head coach experience, the move is a significant milestone in his return to cricket.
Flintoff, 45, has been steadily returning to public life through cricket following a crash last December while filming an episode of Top Gear, assisted by good friend Rob Key, England Men's managing director. Flintoff spent the summer working behind closed doors with England U19s and recently completed an unpaid stint with the ODI squad during their series against Ireland. This week, he will travel to the UAE as part of the coaching team for an England Lions training camp and is expected to tour the Caribbean for England's white-ball matches against West Indies in December.
Since retiring in 2010, Flintoff moved away from the game and into entertainment, becoming a host on BBC's Top Gear in 2018. He has dabbled in commentary, notably in 2021 when he was part of the broadcast team for the inaugural season of the Hundred, and also retained a connection to the game through his sons Corey and Rocky, who are on the pathway at Flintoff's county, Lancashire.
Despite never holding a head coach role, Flintoff applied for the England job in 2014 after Andy Flower's departure. Having emailed to register his interest, he only received a response a month later upon chasing up his application, before receiving a phone call from someone at the ECB who did not realise it was genuine.
As a Hundred coach, Flintoff's duties will be limited beyond the competition itself and he will be involved in running the rule over retaining players and negotiating next year's draft ahead of the 2024 season. Former Lancashire bowler Kyle Hogg, now a coach at the county and close with Flintoff, is expected to assume the assistant coach role at Superchargers.
"I am excited to have been appointed Head Coach of the Northern Superchargers men's team," Flintoff said. "My time with the England Men's team has been a reminder of just how special cricket is to me, and I'm relishing the opportunity to be back amongst it, helping to guide the Superchargers team to success on the field while making memories off it and helping to take cricket to more people.
"The Superchargers have a great fan base who I cannot wait to meet and bring along with us this season. I'm looking forward to making Headingley my new home."
Northern Superchargers chair Kirsty Bashforth said: "We are thrilled to welcome Andrew to the Northern Superchargers family. He is an inspirational figure who has huge respect across the game of cricket and he is someone we know will excite our players, coaches, and our fans. Andrew will help us to create a unique culture and we are extremely excited about working with him to inspire our squad further with positive, entertaining and consistently winning cricket."