by Our Sports Desk

Andrew Flintoff called on the English cricketing public to show their love for under-pressure Test captain Alastair Cook.

Cook is at a low ebb as his quest for a long overdue Test century — to add to his record 25 — brought him two more failures at the top of the order in the opening match of England’s series in the West Indies.

He nonetheless has a supporter in former England teammate and fellow 2009 Ashes-winner Flintoff.

“I get fed up of people having a go at Alastair Cook,” the all-rounder said.

“I was captain when Alastair came into the side.

“I got a lot of things wrong as England captain but the one thing I got right was picking Alastair Cook.

“He’s one of England’s finest ever players. If you have a career spanning more than 100 Test matches, there are going to be blips along the way.

“But Alastair will get through this. I’d like to see people outside the England team backing the lad.

“It’s nice some time when you get a bit of loving from people and I think that’s the only thing that’s missing with Alastair at the minute.”

Flintoff wants to spread the love too for a tournament he hopes will become an institution in British sport.

At 37, Flintoff is still unsure whether he will be playing again — having made a comeback in 2014, five years after his retirement.

He does have a view on the future of his ex-England colleague Kevin Pietersen, though.

Flintoff fears Pietersen is “running out of time” to resurrect his England career.

The controversial batsman already has three Ashes series wins on his CV but will be 35 before the 2015 edition begins and Flintoff senses he no longer has age on his side.

Pietersen has been surplus to requirements since being sacked 14 months ago after Cook’s team were whitewashed 5-0 in Australia but has taken heart from incoming ECB chairman Colin Graves’s hints that there may be a way back after all.

Pietersen and his agent have both spoken of the “clean slate” being presented to him and he began restating his case by hitting 170 against MCCU Oxford in his first red-ball innings for Surrey since June 2013.

Flintoff is concerned nonetheless that there is simply no vacancy for Pietersen.

“He’s a fantastic player but nobody just walks into any team — especially the England team, ‘I’m back, I’m here, I’m playing’,” Flintoff said.