Freddie Flintoff car crash injuries in full as wife was told expect the worst

England cricket legend Freddie Flintoff is back on our screens in a new series of Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams which starts on Sunday night.

Back for the third instalment of the popular show, Flintoff is this time taking on a new challenge, something described as his toughest yet.

Fresh from the second series where he took his bunch of young cricketers to India to learn more about the sport and themselves, this time Flintoff and Co are honing in on the north west of England.

Across the series, the cricketer will attempt to form a boys’ team in Manchester and Liverpool, while also creating his first-ever girls team in Blackpool.

He’ll be joined by former Lancashire bowler Kyle Hogg and England Women’s international player Kate Cross. Clare Sillery, head of commissioning at BBC Documentaries, said of the show’s renewal: “Freddie Flintoff has proved himself an exceptional role model.

“To see his passion for and commitment to cricket shine through and the transformational impact it has had on the lives of the lads from Preston playing on his team has been incredible to witness. I’m so pleased that he is back for another series building on the success of the last one.”

During the third series, Flintoff opens up even further on the horrific car crash he was involved in 2022 while filming for BBC Top Gear.

The incident left him with life-changing injuries.

In the first episode of the latest season shown tonight, Flintoff is asked by a teenager about how hard he found it leaving his house after the crash.

He responded: “It was, what – 18 months ago? And you know, I’ve suffered with things like depression in the past before, but this time was different.

“I didn’t know if I had it in me to carry on, not that I wanted to die or anything like that, I just didn’t know if I had it in me, and that took a while.”

Flintoff was described as “lucky to be alive” after the harrowing incident three years ago.

Filming for Top Gear, the presenter was driving an open-topped three-wheel car around a test track at around 130mph.

But disaster struck when the car, travelling then at a much slower speed of 22mph, flipped over in icy conditions and dragged his face along the tarmac, leaving him with horrific facial injuries and several broken ribs.

He was rushed to hospital after an agonising 45-minute, reported MailOnline, where surgeons worked on his face for four hours to repair the damage.

Meanwhile, his wife of 20 years, Rachael, had rushed from their home in Altrincham to the hospital in Surrey where he was being treated and was even told to “expect the worst” by a surgeon.

A surgeon who treated Flintoff disclosed that the “very complex” injuries he sustained included hard and soft tissue damage, broken and lost teeth, and fractures and displacement to part of the upper jaw bone.

Flintoff survived and eventually recovered from the crash but scars – physically and mentally – remain.

“I thought I could just shake it off, I want to shake it off and say ‘here I am, I am all right’ but it has not been the case, it has been a lot harder than I thought,” he said. “I am struggling with my anxiety, I have nightmares, I have flashbacks, it has been so hard to cope with.

“I don’t know what completely better is. I am what I am now, I am different to what I was. That is something I will probably have to deal with for the rest of my life. Better? No. Different.”

Freddie Flintoff car crash injuries in full as wife was told expect the worst

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