A young allrounder on the rise didn't shy away when she found herself in the spotlight during the closing stages of Sunday's WBBL|11 Melbourne derby at the Junction Oval
Flintoff answers the call against her old team
Tess Flintoff was a bundle of nerves heading into her first Melbourne derby against her old club, but the allrounder couldn't have asked for a better ending than striking three boundaries to ice victory for the Melbourne Renegades.
On strike with the Renegades needing 12 off 12, Flintoff took on one of the world's most in-form white-ball death bowlers – Australia star Annabel Sutherland – and hit her for six, four and four in three legal deliveries to ensure her new club would take bragging rights for a third-straight derby.
"It's pretty satisfying, to be out there with Nico (Faltum) as well," Flintoff said on Sunday.
"It got a bit tight at the end, but just really happy to get the win.
"The advice from (coach) Simon Helmot was you don't want to leave it too late, so we just wanted to keep playing our aggressive brand.
"You always want to do well, especially against the old side, so there was definitely a little bit of nerves around."
Flintoff sensationally swapped the Stars' green for Renegades' red during last December's inaugural WBBL Player Movement Window, swapping Melbourne allegiances after six Big Bash seasons.
The move coincided with another significant milestone in Flintoff's career, with the 22-year-old offered her first Cricket Australia contract just four months later.
The pace-bowling allrounder spent much of the winter in Brisbane honing her craft with the Australian coaches, but hopes of breaking into the ODI World Cup squad were scuppered when Flintoff suffered a hamstring injury playing for Australia A in August.
It also meant she missed Victoria's opening games of the Women's National Cricket League season, but having returned ahead of the T20 Spring Challenge, Flintoff now wants to find the consistency with the ball she feels she has lacked in recent seasons.
With six wickets at 15.83 from four games already in WBBL|11, Flintoff has already produced her best haul since WBBL|07, where she took nine wickets in 12 matches.
"I feel like that consistency piece is what I was missing, and potentially am still missing a little bit," Flintoff said of her bowling.
"I want to try and get strong as I can, so I've got a repeatable action, and that's something I want to keep working away at.
"I haven't quite got there yet, but I've got the backing from Helmo, Soph Molineux and Wolf (Georgia Wareham) the last couple games, just to try and run in and bowl fast.
"I suppose that's been the main bit, and just try and be as consistent as possible.
"I still think there's a little bit of work to do, so we'll keep chipping away at that."
After playing four of their 10 group stage matches in the first eight days of WBBL|11, the Renegades are well positioned in their title defence with three wins, sitting second on the table behind the undefeated Hurricanes.
Next stop is a five-day road trip to Sydney, where they will play Hobart at North Sydney Oval on Thursday afternoon before taking on the Thunder at Drummoyne Oval three days later.
"It's nice to start the comp well, it's been a pretty hectic first week," Flintoff said.
"I feel like if you get on a bit of a roll, it works in your favour.
"It slows down from here on in but hopefully we can just keep rolling.
"It was nice to have Soph (Molineux) back today as well, (Georgia Wareham) did a great job as stand-in skipper, but it was nice having her overs and her impact with the bat."
Weber WBBL|11 Standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
HUR
|
10 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0.662 | 0 | 15 |
|
2
SIX
|
10 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | -0.313 | 0 | 13 |
|
3
SCO
|
10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | -0.132 | 0 | 12 |
|
4
STA
|
10 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0.629 | 0 | 11 |
|
5
REN
|
10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.121 | 0 | 10 |
|
6
STR
|
10 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0.077 | 0 | 9 |
|
7
THU
|
10 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 1 | -0.124 | 0 | 9 |
|
8
HEA
|
10 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 1 | -0.869 | 0 | 1 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points