Andrew Flintoff: Referrals not good for the game

Hawk-Eye, Hot Spot and Snickometer technology is used in the Decision Review System, which Freddie says can leave players standing around in the middle for up to 10 minutes waiting for a verdict.

“I think the technology has added to the sport in some ways, but in others I’m not a big fan of it,” he told BusinessCloud magazine.

“I’d take a lot of the technology, including the referrals, out… with the Twenty20 it probably works a little bit better, with the big crowds.

“I watch some of these decisions and the balls are clipping the stumps, but they’re still not out! I’m not sure where they’re going with it.”

The former all-rounder said the word of the umpire should be “law” - and that the sport would benefit from a shift back to its roots.

“The umpires are there to do a job and they give you out or they don’t give you out,” he continued.

“It’s a sport where the players still regard the umpires as boss. It’s not like football, where they go and shout and swear and argue with them – the umpire’s word is law.

“Although I’m not a big traditionalist, that’s one area of the game which I still adhere to.

“You get good decisions, you get away with a few and hopefully over a career it evens itself out.”

Flintoff, who contributed to some of England's most memorable victories with his explosive batting, said he would be a “different player” if he had come into the sport in recent years and been shaped by tech aids in training and matches.

“In the mid-nineties we used absolutely nothing [in terms of tech],” he said. “Over my career – I retired in 2009 – it became more and more professional.

“Everyone’s training schedule is monitored on computer and they track how far each player runs during the course of a game. You can sit and dissect every ball that you’ve bowled, every dismissal.

“Every time I got out, I knew what I’d done – I was more of a ‘feel’ player and I saw cricket more as an art than a science.

“It’s a new game – I’d have probably been a different player growing up in this era.”

Freddie, who took 226 Test wickets in 79 matches, added that he “hated” bowling machines and practised bowling more in his head than nets.