Freddie Flintoff has made a return to public life and friends are delighted to see him back.
The England legend was involved in a near-fatal accident last December while filming for BBC motoring show, Top Gear.
It is reported he was driving an open-topped three-wheel Morgan Super 3 car when it flipped and slid along the track while driving at around 130mph.
Flintoff suffered facial injuries and several broken ribs in the incident, leading him to stay away from the public eye in the months that have followed.
However, the 45-year-old was seen in public at England’s two One-Day Internationals with New Zealand, leading fans to laud his return.
Flintoff’s return was also hailed by former teammate Harmison who said that it was great to see his friend doing so well.
Speaking on The Sports Breakfast, Harmison said: “It was great to see him back.
“It’s been tough, you’ve seen the pictures of him with a smile on his face but I saw him about six weeks ago when my son Charlie and his son, Rocky played against each other and it was great to see him.
“Obviously I roomed with Andrew for the best part of 15 years and we’d gone through all our careers together and so to see our two sons playing each other, Northumberland against Lancashire, it was fantastic.
“I got to see him then but at that time he covered his face up when he walked around – believe it or not, he was training a guide dog which I’m sure is going better now than it was because he tripped over around three times on his way around the field!
“He was on great form, but to see him around the England group, the main team, was fantastic.
“This England team are a good bunch and not only are they great cricketers, but they’re great ambassadors.
“Freddie was always brilliant in the dressing room and so to have Andrew in the dressing room with them and feeling comfortable and letting him get his feet under the table because they’ll be in for a show.
“He’s a funny fan who is infectious, he has great cricket knowledge and a great cricket brain – unfortunately for cricket he was even better in entertainment so he went off to make the big bucks on the TV and so to see him in the dressing room to give the young lads an education in cricket is brilliant.”
TalkTV host Piers Morgan also spoke about Flintoff’s return to the public eye and was delighted to see him back.
He told talkSPORT: “I’d heard from various people that through the Ashes series that he was turning up as a guest of Rob Key, who runs England cricket now and is one of his great mates, but they were very incognito and watching it in back offices on TV. A very small number of people went to see him.
“I was encouraged, but he’s still got a lot of scarring on his face and signs of injury nine months after the crash.
“I know he’s had a lot of mental health issues because of it, as you would expect because it was a horrendous crash that nearly killed him.
“Freddie is gingerly putting himself back into the game and it’s brilliant to see him laughing and joking and interacting with the public again. I think he needs that.
“I’ve known him for a long time and he’s a good friend of mine and we were really worried about him because the reports of how bad the crash was were that it was real life and death and he was lucky to survive.
“I’m so chuffed for him and actually got a message from him yesterday. He’s not really been interacting with anybody as he’s been trying to get himself back on track. Now he’s in a better place and I’m really pleased about that.”