Ashes legend Andrew Flintoff is set to stun the cricketing world by signing on as the coach of the Sydney Thunder for the upcoming Big Bash League season, it has been reported.
Flintoff is in the process of inking a deal which would see him combine with veteran Aussie batter David Warner and upcoming talent Sam Konstas, according to News Corp.
The 48-year-old is no stranger to the competition, having played for the Brisbane Heat in the BBL in the 2014/15 season.
Flintoff also has coaching experience after leading the England Lions side since September 2024, and he is reportedly contracted until January 2027.
The veteran of 79 Tests would bring a new set of eyes to the competition and could provide a massive boost for Cricket Australia in its battle to increase the BBL’s popularity.
Flintoff would replace Trevor Bayliss as Thunder coach after the former NSW star took the team to the grand final in the 2024-25 season.
Andrew Flintoff (pictured late last year) will reportedly be appointed coach of the Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League
Signing Flintoff (pictured with wife Rachael) would be a coup for the BBL
Bayliss departed after the Thunder crashed to finish last in the league in 2023-24 and 2025-26
The England icon has a solid amount of experience to draw on.
Flintoff won the role with the Lions after he was made coach of the Northern Superchargers men’s team in England’s The Hundred limited-overs league in 2023.
He has also worked as a consultant with England’s limited-overs set-up.
Flintoff’s appointment would raise eyebrows Down Under given many Aussies remember him as an Ashes villain.
He was England’s player of the series when the Three Lions beat the Aussies on home soil in 2005, and was the skipper for the return bout in 2006/2007, when the men in baggy green took the urn five Tests to nil.
Flintoff played seven matches for the Brisbane Heat during his time in BBL 04.
He did so after coming out of a five-year retirement from the sport to play T20 with Lancashire.
The cricket great is remembered by many Aussies for playing a huge role in leading England to one of the all-time great Ashes series wins in 2005 (pictured)
Flintoff is no stranger to the Big Bash League after playing for the Brisbane Heat in the 2014-15 season (pictured)
Flintoff, who was known as a party boy in his early playing days, made headlines off the field last year by opening up about the Top Gear accident that almost killed him.
He starred in a documentary about his road back from the horror crash in December 2022, when the Morgan Super 3 three-wheeled car he was driving overturned on the show’s famous test track in Surrey.
‘As it (the car) started going over, I looked at the ground and I knew, if I get hit here on the side [of the head] then I’ll break my neck, or if I get hit on the temple I’m dead,’ he said.
‘The best chance is to go face down.’
Flintoff made the harrowing admission that the severity of the pain suffered in the midst of the crash made him wish for death.
‘I thought I was dead, because I was conscious but I couldn’t see anything,’ he said – realising seconds later his hat had fallen over his eyes.
But as he lifted it up, he looked down to see blood – and was terrified that he no longer had a face.
‘I thought my face had come off. I was frightened to death,’ he said.
