Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff says Chris Brown has severed all ties as he hosts the Big Bash League

FREDDIE Flintoff is back for another season of cricket and the Big Bash in particular but he also wants to mend bridges with a certain vet.

FORMER English Test cricket captain Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff seems a master of reinvention — and a funny and sometimes inadvertent one at that.

A wild child in his playing days, he was reviled by Australian cricket fans — simply because he was English, and at times also by his own countrymen — especially when England was belted in the 2006-2007 Ashes whitewash. But retirement has transformed Flintoff into a man of many hats.

Among them are cricket commentator, stand-up comedian, author, TV panellist, and winner of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here Australia. He’s eschewed alcohol, wrestled depression, embraced the gym, buried self-doubt.

Back to join cricket foes-turned-mates Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Damien Fleming and Mark Waugh in the Big Bash commentary box on Channel Ten, Flintoff reckons life is pretty sweet.

If only Bondi Vet Chris Brown would call.

Fine bromance ... Flintoff and I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here Australia host Chris Brown in Africa. Picture: Supplied.

Flintoff developed a ‘bromance’ with co-host Brown on his way to winning I’m A Celebrity earlier in the year, and with the same trademark humour which saw non-cricket fans become entranced with him on that show, reckons now he’s back in Australia for cricket and The Project panel duties, he’s keen to reignite the friendship.

“He’s lovely. He’s just what you aspire to be isn’t he? He’s attractive. He’s intelligent. He’s witty … ish,” Flintoff deadpans.

“We kept in contact for a little bit post Celebrity, and now he’s severed all ties. I think the restraining order came through (laughs) but maybe that only applies on English soil — I’ll be testing it now that I’m here.”

Flintoff was surprised by the Australian viewer reaction to him on Celebrity.

“I’d been asked to do I’m A Celebrity UK so many times and I’d said ‘no chance’,” he says.

““But because of the experience I had during the Big Bash here last year, and the approach to it I started contemplating it, and then my wife signed me up.

“I got on the plane, I didn’t know if I was making the right decision. And then I got in there — and Merv Hughes was one of the big reasons I did it — and I thought ‘I’ve got a chance here to spend four weeks with Merv. This is brilliant’.

Back in the day ... Freddie Flintoff at the height of his game. Picture: Supplied.

“He’s just one of the best blokes. Behind all the burping and farting and swearing he has a heart of gold.”

Big Bash duties mean renewing friendships with Gilchrist, Ponting and Co. in the commentary box, surfing the wave of Big Bash’s popularity.

“Although I played against these guys I’d never spent a lot of time with them,” he says.

“Working with Gilly is just fun. We can get stuck into each other and nothing’s too serious.

“Ricky as well is amazing. I had an impression of him playing that he was a bit gnarly and he used to have a go at me and swear at me and shout at me.

“Away from it all and he’s just a great bloke.”

Flintoff, 38, was among the sceptics when the shorter version of cricket was introduced to the masses.

“I remember at a Players Association meeting they said ‘we’re going to be playing 20-20 cricket’ and we were like ‘really — we have to travel up and down the country for 20 overs having a thrash? This is pointless’,” he says.

“Each year it became more and more competitive. You see what it is now — I’m not saying it because I work on it — I genuinely thing the Big Bash is the premier competition.

“Players enjoy it as much as the spectators. In England if you’re playing county cricket in front of three men and a dog for four days trying your best and it’s cold and windy, then all of a sudden you are playing in front of 25,000 under floodlights — that’s why you play sport.

“A lot of sportsmen will talk down the ego boost of that, and that’s absolute nonsense.

“You want to perform in front of a crowd. For me that was the best times — when you play in front of a packed house and you hear the crowd — that’s amazing.”

THE 2015 BIG BASH

• Eight teams from across the country will play a total of 35 matches in 39 days

• Starts on Thursday with the Sydney Smash — Sydney Thunder v Sydney Sixers, continues Friday with Adelaide Strikers v Melbourne Stars and Saturday with Brisbane Heat v Melbourne Renegades

• Semi-finals January 21 and January 22.

• Final on January 24

KFC BIG BASH LEAGUE, THURSDAY, FRIDAY and SATURDAY, 7.30PM, TEN

AACTA AWARDS 2015