Northern Superchargers role for Andrew Flintoff is England's long-term gain, says Stuart Broad

Flintoff has gravitated back towards cricket following a horror crash while filming for the BBC show Top Gear in December 2022, becoming increasingly involved with England’s white-ball set-up.

The former England captain and star of the 2005 Ashes was part of the backroom staff for the recent T20 World Cup and has been touted as a replacement for under-fire Matthew Mott following the team’s surrender of both limited-overs global crowns in the last few months.

He will take charge of the Headingley-based Superchargers in The Hundred in the next few weeks with their first game this Friday against Trent Rockets at Headingley.

And former England fast bowler Broad sees that role as a welcome development and a potential audition for a top England job in future.

“The players I’ve spoken to, when Freddie (Flintoff) has been involved in the coaching stuff, have loved him,” said Broad.

“He’s at that great age where the players he’s now coaching, he was probably their hero.

“For him to go into a changing room and hear him speak about the style he wants them to play is really exciting.

"We know he’s got a brilliant cricket brain, we know he’s a cricket fan and has a lot of energy for it.

“The way the cricket family has got around Fred after what happened has been incredible and shows the strength of the wonderful game that we play.

"It shows the best side of our sport that can get around one of its stars and bring him back closer to the game he loves.

“Ultimately he has ended up as one of the coaches of The Hundred franchises, I’m sure with half an eye on building him towards being an international coach in the future.

"Having someone like a Freddie Flintoff involved in the game is only going to inspire the next generation.”

England’s Test captain Stokes won’t be at the Superchargers’ opener in Leeds but is set to link up with them once England’s ongoing Test series against the West Indies has finished.

He is set to be available for four matches, bringing together two of the greatest all-rounders the nation has ever produced, and Broad is eager to see what their union will bring.

“It’s great that Stokesy will be matching up with Freddie Flintoff,” said Broad, who helped England to victory alongside Flintoff in the 2009 Ashes.

“It’s almost the iconic duo to see walking out, unfortunately they’re not walking out to play together.

"Those two minds working together to win games looks quite exciting and brings a bit of intrigue.”

Stokes didn’t feature last year for the Superchargers due to his England commitments, but he will be joined this year by Yorkshire’s Harry Brook, who showed his quality with a century in the recent second Test win over the West Indies.

Last year in The Hundred, Brook was the only man to score over a hundred runs during a single match, amassing a total of 238 runs from the 121 balls he faced in seven games.