Andrew Flintoff has said that returning to cricket as a coach over the past 18 months was 'the one thing that saved me' as he struggled with the mental and physical aftermath of a car accident while filming Top Gear in December 2022. The former England cricketer speaks for the first time about the crash in a Disney+ documentary released on Friday.
Flintoff, 47, sustained serious facial injuries when a three-wheeled open-topped car overturned while he was driving at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey. He recalled: 'I remember everything about it. My biggest fear afterwards was I didn't think I had a face. I thought my face had come off.' He was airlifted to St George's Hospital in Tooting, where surgeon Jahrad Haq described his injuries as 'in the top five' of maxillofacial trauma cases seen in 20 years.
For months after the accident, Flintoff refused to leave his house except for medical appointments. He said: 'After the accident I didn't think I had it in me to get through. Part of me thinks I should have been killed. Part of me thinks I wish I had died. I didn't want to kill myself... I wasn't wishing, I was thinking: that would have been so much easier.'
Cricket eventually coaxed him from seclusion. He ran sessions for the England men's team in 2023 and was formally appointed coach of England Lions and the Hundred side Northern Superchargers in 2024. 'If one thing's come out of it which is positive it's being back in cricket. It's probably the one thing that saved me,' he said. 'I have moments when I'm sat in a dressing room and I'm watching a game of cricket surrounded by cricketers and friends, and I'm able to forget.'
Flintoff reached a settlement with BBC Studios in 2023, reportedly worth £9m, and the corporation cancelled Top Gear that November. He criticised the pressure for ratings, saying: 'Everybody wants that near-miss because that'll get viewers. Everything's about viewers. Always. I should have been cleverer on this because I learned this in sport as well... You're just a commodity. You're just a piece of meat.'
