Andrew Flintoff returns to England from Dubai into the arms of darts legend Phil Taylor, has a go at reading the news and has little sympathy for Ricky Ponting's fractured digit in the fourth of his exclusive Ashes blogs.
I was lucky enough to be at the Sports Personality of the Year awards at the weekend, which was a good night. I really enjoyed it actually. I thought it was better than last year and to be part of it was quite a big thing. I managed to win the award a few years ago, but I was in Pakistan then and had to do my acceptance speech in front of a camera. Now they’re doing it in front of about 13,000 people.
For me one of the highlights of the night was Phil Taylor's reaction to coming second. I know Phil and I’m a big fan of the darts – he was just made up and then he came up on stage and planted one on my cheek – he could have brushed his teeth first! David Beckham couldn’t stop laughing.
'Phil Taylor planted one on my cheek – he could have brushed his teeth first!'
It was brilliant because he was so happy. AP McCoy was a deserved winner, but I was hoping that Lee Westwood would get something. He’s a friend of mine and the number one golfer in the world, which is such a competitive sport and it's an amazing achievement from Lee.
I must have looked like a giant on that stage because I was standing next to Jessica Ennis, Phil Taylor, Sue Barker, AP McCoy and Cesc Fabregas, all of whom are not the tallest and I felt a bit self conscious!
I managed to grab a couple of beers afterwards with Marcus Trescothick, who I haven’t seen for a while and Geraint Jones, Ed Smith, Alex Swann, James Corden and a few others and we had a good catch-up.
On the home front, the big news is that we’ve moved back to England full-time now. We’ve been back just under a week and the last few days have been spent sorting things out.
We had four nights in a hotel in Farnborough and now everything should be done in time for Christmas. The family are all really happy and we’ve found a place in Surrey, which is our new home. After being in apartments for the last year or so it’s good to have our own house again and the kids are loving it.
My parents have just come down and my brother will too, so we’re all set for a really nice Christmas. I’ve just been out in the snow and bought the tree and decorations and I know a lot of people are finding the snow a hassle, but when you’ve lived in the sand for a year it’s a bit of a novelty.
'I’d never read an autocue in my life and thought I was going to be like Anchorman'
We enjoyed it in Dubai but circumstances have changed with me retiring from cricket, so I’ve come back to pursue a career in television and realistically you need to be near London to do that.
Talking about TV, I had a go at presenting on Sky Sports News on Tuesday with Georgie Thompson, which was a laugh.
I’d never read an autocue in my life and thought I was going to be like Anchorman – you put it up there and I will read it, whatever it says. I enjoyed it though and then I headed over to the World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace, London.
It was an honour to be allowed in the commentary box with Sid Waddell, John Gwynne and Stuart Pyke and I reckon I did a pretty good job of commentating on the Terry Jenkins v Joe Cullen match, which was a cracker.
Everyone was disappointed at the result and performance over in Perth and probably none more so than the England team. They’ve been playing so well and it just goes to show that when England are the underdogs they always perform better and they sometimes struggle with expectancy.
Mitchell Johnson bowled well and the fact that he is inconsistent can sometimes work to his advantage because he can produce a great delivery out of nowhere and catch a batsman off guard.
I still think we’ll win 3-1 as I originally predicted and I don’t buy all this talk of Australia producing a fast track in Melbourne. It’s a sticky pitch generally and you can’t produce a new pitch just like that. It doesn’t work like that.
'Ponting needs to dry his eyes and get on with it'
I’d be tempted to play another bowler on Boxing Day. I know we scored poorly in Perth, but otherwise we’ve been batting well and I’d bring in Tim Bresnan or Ajmal Shahzad, move Ian Bell up to five and play Matt Prior at six.
Some of the England bowlers have bowled a lot of overs and an extra one will help with the workload a little bit.
As for this talk about Ponting not playing – if he doesn’t play I think there’s something wrong with him. He needs to dry his eyes and get on with it. It was good in a way to see him back to his old self in Perth – he was all over everyone once Australia were winning and it adds a bit of spice to the last two Tests. He'd sledge Father Christmas would Ponting.
I think they’ve had their match now though and normal service will be resumed in Melbourne. Now that I’m back in England I’ll have to pull an all-nighter to watch it. I think I’ve got one in me – it’ll probably be the first day.
I’m off to see the knee surgeon now, as I’m struggling walking around and I can’t train or play with the kids, so hopefully he can sort me out and an England win in Melbourne would be a tonic as well.
Anyway, I hope everyone has a great Christmas and I'll be back with another blog in the New Year!
Fred
Read Fred's exclusive Ashes review every Saturday night on the News of the World website and check back in to redbull.co.uk soon for more from Freddie Flintoff or follow him & the AF Foundation on Twitter
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