Thaindian News

London, Aug 4 (IANS) Former England cricket captain Andrew Flintoff feels that the current side led by Andrew Strauss is even better than the 2005 team, and said they can dominate world cricket like West Indies and Australia did in the past.

“This is a better side than the one we had in 2005, the strength of it and the depth of it is incredible. In 2005, we had 11 players who had a memorable few weeks and played at their best for a period, but we never played together again,” Flintoff was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph.

Flintoff said the strength of the side is also reflected on the strong bench-strength.

“This side have a squad and they are so strong in and out of the side. We’ve seen them replace players without blinking and it has made no difference to the performance and that has been happening for a while now,” he said.

“England are the best in the world already,” said Flintoff. “Not just in ranking but also in strength. They have got everything. I don’t see why they can’t dominate for a long time. They have strong enough players do it. Australia and West Indies did it and England should be able to do it for next few years.”

The burly former all-rounder said England have no weak links in their team.

“There are no weak links. They are playing with a confidence and a swagger that goes with being the best. They’ve got every department covered and if someone gets injured, then another one comes in and does a job.

“It is a fantastic group of players that clearly work very hard and they enjoy what they’re doing,” he said.

“Stuart (Broad) has been brilliant in the way he has responded to a dip in form and he’s got that nonsense about ‘the enforcer’ out of his system,” said Flintoff.

“What is it? I cringe every time I hear it and it is just a bizarre thing because we’ve seen Broady’s strength in this Test. He’s got the ability to swing it and together with the odd bouncer and variation he is a danger when he pitches it up.

“Credit to Straussy and Andy Flower for what they’ve done. They’ve got a good group of players who are prepared to work hard and enjoy it. I’d imagine it is a cracking atmosphere and an easy team to run.”