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Ex-England cricketer Freddie Flintoff is on a rooftop terrace in Kolkata, talking to the nine young men he’s brought there on tour. “I was going to say we’re representing England,” he tells them. “But we’re representing something far bigger than that.”
Resilience, maybe? After all, everybody on this trip is a year older than they were meant to be, after Flintoff suffered serious injuries in a car accident while filming Top Gear. This delayed international trip is one of the few times he’s been out of his house in months. It’s the first time some of these young men, like 18-year-old Eli – a new recruit drafted in when two boys with Pakistani heritage were refused visas for this trip to India – have been out of the country.
Perhaps Flintoff’s about to say that they’re representing teamwork or family. The boys became both in the 2022 documentary series in which Flintoff revisited his hometown to ask why the community facilities that gave him his start in cricket weren’t around for this generation of working class kids.
Or maybe he means cricket itself – a sport that spans countries, which this team will find out playing in Kolkata’s streets and parks – and which gave Flintoff an international career before he found this talent for fronting sincere and moving TV documentaries.
So, what’s bigger than representing England, according to Flintoff? “Representing Preston,” he tells the boys, with a laugh. What else. The Lancashire city is where Flintoff and fellow former England cricketer Kyle Hogg scared up this team of cricket first-timers from playgrounds and takeaways back in 2022. Local pride and easy humour like that is everywhere in this four-part documentary follow-up. When the boys first see Flintoff, freshly scarred after multiple operations, they cover their worry about how changed he seems with the reassuring boast, “He’ll be alright, he’s Northern.”
Flintoff is Northern, but he’s not alright. Not yet, anyway, and he’s brave enough to admit it. He tells Josh, who’s autistic and struggling to branch out of his narrow food habits in India. He tells Dylan, whose heart is breaking over a girl at home. He tells Ben, a formerly homeless young man who’s frustrated by his cricket ability and feeling directionless. Flintoff tells us to-camera, where he’s ambushed by emotion while talking about his recovery, about the person he used to be, about his family, and about the boys.
He feels like a dad of nine on this trip, he’s surprised to realise. And that’s exactly what he looks like – in his care and gentle encouragement and hope, as well as in his frustration and irritation. The boys’ behaviour is challenging. On the first day of a Loughborough training camp with facilities young cricketers could only dream of, not one has the respect or discipline to turn up on time. Later episodes show that this journey is two steps forward, one step back. But oh, the steps forward.
The 2022 series struck gold with the discovery of Adnan Miakhel, an Afghan refugee and talented young cricketer who’d been forced to flee his country aged 15 without a word of English. Now living in the UK in foster care, Adnan’s application for asylum was eventually granted and he’s since won a sports scholarship to a boarding school. A happy ending, in other words.
Except that, as this empathy-led documentary shows, life isn’t that simple. Adnan is still haunted by his long journey from home and lack of contact with his mother and younger brother. The sole Muslim on the trip, which takes place during Ramadan, he’s alone in his religious fasting and isolated by his fatigue, hunger and thirst in the Kolkatan heat. Two of his English teammates volunteer to fast with him for a day in support. No food, no water, even no sex, Adnan explains. “I think we’ll be alright on that last one,” laughs Flintoff. Hemi asks if masturbation counts, and Adnan shows his innocence.
At the mosque where the trio break their fast at sunset, the English boys follow Adnan’s lead. “I don’t even feel I should be on my phone right now,” says one, naïve good instinct breaking through the habit of a lifetime. It’s the same in the local food markets, where the boys pale at live animal slaughter but don’t want to insult another culture, before retreating to the frozen aisles where they bring back mozzarella sticks and oven chips. Flintoff and Hogg crack up at the lads’ approach to local cuisine, but thank them at least for filling their teammates’ plates.
That’s where the real subject of this documentary emerges: it’s not about discovering the cricket stars of tomorrow, it’s about building these young men up. We see their fear and embarrassment gradually replaced by trust and its natural consequences: bravery and self-worth. They develop a sense of care and responsibility for themselves and for each other. They’re encouraged not to hide their feelings behind a false front, or a pint – something Flintoff knows about from personal experience.
Adnan and maybe Eli aside, this lot aren’t going professional, and so what? They’re still all worth the effort, and watching them realise that, amid the banter and bravado, is magical. Whatever their background, whatever their skill, everybody deserves to benefit from the community and pride that comes from playing on a team.
Just look what it does to Flintoff, an international star who spent the seven months after his accident scared to leave his home. Scouting the city streets for an opposing team to play his lads (“I need to find the worst cricketers in Kolkata” he jokes, not really joking), he stumbles on a gully game, takes a bat and takes his stance. In that instant, all of his apprehension, all of that thunderous weight pushing him down melts. His eyes follow the ball, he hits and he runs. This temporary father of nine young men who’s been hiding his scar tissue and feelings behind sunglasses becomes smiling and unselfconscious. He plays. And like this outstanding series, it’s beautiful to watch.
Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams on Tour airs on Tuesdays at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
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