THE biggest draw in world cricket arrives in Southampton tomorrow.

Andrew Flintoff was recently awarded the ICC International One-Day player of the year trophy at a star-studded awards dinner.

The crowning of the Lancashire star came after a sensational run of performances for the national team that saw comparisons with the legendary Ian Botham scale new heights.

Flintoff, 26, scored 551 runs at the impressive average of 78.71 in one-day internationals during the year-long period assessed by the panel of judges - including two centuries - and also claimed 12 wickets at an average of 20.50.

He was also part of the one-day team of the year, which was captained by Australia's Ricky Ponting.

Flintoff was the only English player named in the world one-day XI, while tomorrow's opponents Sri Lanka also had a single player nominated - former Hampshire seamer Chaminda Vaas.

"We are a different side without Freddie," said England seamer Steve Harmison earlier this month after Flintoff had missed a match through the birth of his first child. "It is exactly the same as India losing Sachin Tendulkar or Australia losing Matthew Hayden.

"No-one in world cricket is playing as well as Freddie at the moment. He is bowling 90mph, scoring big runs and taking catches."

But it's not just in the shortened version of the game that Flintoff has excelled in 2004.

His Test form, certainly with the bat, has been stunning - he has scored two centuries and six half-centuries in his last eight Tests. That doubled the amount of tons and fifties he had accrued in his first 32 Tests!

As a result, the 26-year-old has catapulted himself into a worthy successor to the mantle once held by Botham.

Flintoff possesses the rum gift held by only a select few sportsmen across the world - the ability to empty a bar full of drinkers!

Like Botham in the late 70s and early 80s, there is a roar of anticipation when Flintoff walks down any pavilion steps.

Since Botham slipped out of his prime in the late 80s, English cricket has waited for a similar talismanic figure to emerge.

And the simmering talent inside Flintoff, which led England to hand him his Test debut in 1998 against South Africa, has finally exploded in the last few months.

While Botham could win matches with bat and ball, Flintoff is primarily a threat with the bat.

In 40 Tests he has only taken five wickets in an innings once - 5-58 against the West Indies in the spring - and has a less than impressive average of 37.40.

No, it's with the willow that English cricket fans cramming into the Rose Bowl to witness Freddie's West End debut will want to see.

Cricket is a sport that can easily suffocate you in statistics and the ones I've listed above are cold, hard and set in stone (or, in cricket's case, Wisden). But sport means more to so many than just stats and the sheer joy that can be gained from watching Flintoff hit top form outweighs everything.

As a kid growing up in Devon, I still vividly recall my occasional trips up the M5 to Taunton in the early 80s to watch Botham in action for Somerset.

Those were the days - it's hard to believe now, I know - when our top cricketers could be found most weeks experiencing the daily toil of England's domestic county programme.

I can still picture the textbook (I wish!) straight-driven sixes I used to execute with my Duncan Fearnley bat when I was 12 down the local park with my mates.

Because that's what Ian Botham did for us youngsters - he made cricket exciting, he made us want to watch England's cricket team, he made us want to emulate him.

For a new generation, Andrew Flintoff is the same role model. If he doesn't make you want to watch the game, then there's no hope for you.

English cricket today is very different to the early 1980s. County fans like Hampshire's rarely get a chance to see the stars play live on their local grounds.

That's why tomorrow is such a golden chance for those who live on the south coast to share in a talent as sublime as Freddie's.