Freddie versus Athers

One of my pet hates is the tendency of people, when confronted with a difference of opinion, to attack the person making the argument rather than the argument itself. This usually takes the form of "Have you ever been in this profession yourself?" or "Have you ever been in so-and-so's shoes? What makes you qualified to comment, then?" A cricketing example can be seen in the way certain fans are quick to insist that Sachin Tendulkar is beyond even the slightest criticism from former players whose cricketing achievements aren't on par with his.

So, it was interesting to see Andrew Flintoff employing this line of attack against Michael Atherton recently. That the two don't get along is not really surprising; Atherton is the intense, poslished Cambridge graduate, while Flintoff's image is more working-class hero. Atherton the journalist can be vitriolic at times, and we are supposed to  believe this is Freddie's way of sticking up for his former teammate, Alistair Cook. Only, if Freddie felt so strongly about Atherton's comments about Cook at the time, why didn't he say so then? 

Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that Atherton's cricketing credentials do matter if he is to talk about current players. Flintoff himself has been pretty well-placed to judge Atherton's accomplishments: his international debut was in the Trent Bridge test of 1998, which is simply remembered as the Atherton vs Donald match. He was also in the playing XI in another test against the South Africans which featured an Atherton epic, when the side were being tossed around by Donald and co. once more. 

He was on the fringes of the national side in 2000, when Atherton played out of his skin to help England to their first series win against the West Indies since god-knows-when. If that isn't enough, he was on that tour to Pakistan, where England's series win was set up by Athers' painstakingly compiled 125. Alistair Cook is a fine batsman alright, but ten times better than Athers, really? Unless his memory has failed him badly, the only explanation for Freddie's outburst is the one he himself offers, unwittingly: "there's no love lost here". 

Freddie has a right to his opinions and, given the nature of modern cricket coverage, it's a safe bet we'll be subjected to them regularly. Based on this line of reasoning, however, they'll be pretty hard to take seriously.