Flintoff confirms his coming-of-age

This was Freddie Flintoff's day. He hit a sumptuous strongarm 167, the sort of innings you dream of seeing when you roll up at a Test ground, and though his was the best, there were other class batting acts to drink in under a hot Birmingham sun. Even Stephen Harmison turned on the style, deftly reverse-sweeping Omari Banks for four before pummelling two fours and a six - a la Flintoff - from one Jermaine Lawson over.

And after Michael Vaughan's confident declaration at 566 for 9, West Indies could strut, too. Two down in the blink of an eye, they fought back resolutely through Ramnaresh Sarwan and Brian Lara, who made the Edgbaston wicket look as good as it really is. When Lara reached 15, Vaughan patted him on the back as the crowd broke out into spontaneous applause. Word had leaked out - erroneously - that he had passed 10,000 Test runs. In fact, he needed 115.

It would be tempting to say that it looks a dead cert for tomorrow. But the immovability of Channel 4 News may have done England a favour. Because the broadcasters will not contemplate the news being delayed for a dilatory over-rate the ECB agreed to earlier start times. It may have upset the traditional rhythm of the home Test day, but England have no complaints.

Here at Edgbaston, you could be forgiven for thinking that the West Indians have been asleep for the first hour of each day. England were 61 for 0 at the first drinks session yesterday and today they shifted up another gear. Flintoff and Geraint Jones - the pair West Indies had to split quickly if they were to have a chance of levelling the series - drove, cut, pulled and generally savaged the bowling to loot 84 in under 13 overs.

They didn't. A superlative Flintoff innings reached its apogee near its end. Ramnaresh Sarwan had made a decent fist of containing Freddie's magnificence, but Lara pulled him in favour of Banks, in theory the specialist spinner. Having just reached his best score in Tests, Flintoff larruped the first ball for six to raise his 150; next one also sailed into the Eric Hollies Stand before circumspection returned in the shape of two dots; the fifth, almost inevitably, zinged over the ropes to give him his best first-class score. Freddie kept his head, though, filching a single off the last to keep the strike.

He went shortly after, cheered off to adoring chants of "Fredd-ie, Fredd-ie" from the crowd. There were 17 fours and seven sixes, one of which, either with laser-accuracy or simple good luck, picked out his father, Colin, sitting in the front row of the upper tier of the R. V. Ryder Stand. It would appear that Freddie gets his safe hands from his mother: Flintoff senior muffed it.

It was, however, the only muffing from a Flintoff all day. Freddie's batting has truly come of age - and the stats are happy to corroborate his arrival at maturity. When he passed fifty this morning, he became the first Englishman since Alec Stewart in 1996-97 to make half-centuries in six successive Tests. Even more remarkable for a player who in his early days was as reliable as the Northern Line at midnight was that only one other cricketer had previously managed this batting at No. 6: Garfield Sobers.

Freddie's average, hovering around 20 for so long, has benefited. When last summer's series against South Africa began, it was 19.48. Since then 26 innings have brought 1,213 runs at 48.52, boosting his career average to 32. It's no coincidence that in that time, England have won 11 and lost just three Tests. If there's a small cavil - and it seems churlish to mention it after such a day in the sun - it's that of his 59 Test innings, he has just one not out. Perhaps more importantly, he's given huge entertainment. More, please.