MELBOURNE, Oct 4: England’s Andrew Flintoff may have expected a cool reception when he arrived here after humbling Australia’s once mighty cricket team — instead he set off a bout of “Freddie fever.”

The all-rounder who spearheaded England’s first Ashes win in 16 years has been hailed as a hero in Australia’s second city of Melbourne, which bills itself as the sports capital of the world.

He got a standing ovation simply for bringing on drinks for the ICC World XI in a warm-up match on Sunday. Then he received rapturous applause at a civic reception a day later.

Talkback radio callers have even paid him the ultimate accolade for a Briton — saying they wish he had been born in Australia so he could wear the national team’s famous baggy green cap.

Indian batting great Rahul Dravid saw the Freddie phenomenon first hand when he arrived in Melbourne on the same 5:30am flight as Flintoff on Friday, and was totally ignored by a large media throng intent on grilling the Englishman.

Dravid got the message and jokingly arrived wearing a Flintoff mask at a press conference to publicise the Super Series.—AFP