Australia and Flintoff hike
ANDREW FLINTOFF last night threw his international future into doubt after turning down a central contract.
The injury-plagued all-rounder retired from Test cricket at the end of the Ashes series but stressed he still wanted to continue in the limited-overs formats. As a result, Flintoff was awarded a lower-tier incremental contract by the England and Wales Cricket Board last week, but the 31-year-old has rejected that offer in favour of operating as a freelance player in various Twenty20 competitions around the world.
His decision will anger ECB officials who must now decide whether or not to play Flintoff under those terms. And after England slumped to a fifth successive one-day international defeat to Australia at Trent Bridge last night, it is one which has come at the worst possible time.
Flintoff said: “I said when I retired from Test cricket that my ambition was to become the best one-day and Twenty20 player in the world and playing in all these different countries can only help. I’ve been very lucky playing for England for the past 11 years and I’ve sampled different countries, but I’ve always wanted the opportunity to play more in these places, get to know them and the way they go about their cricket.”
In response, the ECB said it would make no comment until they had “digested” Flintoff’s remarks. As it is, Flintoff will miss both next week’s Champions Trophy and the tour of South Africa as he recovers from knee surgery – at least giving selectors time to ponder their next move.
In his absence England continued to toil, slumping to a four-wicket defeat to Australia despite registering their highest total of the series of 299 on an excellent Trent Bridge surface.
Middlesex’s Eoin Morgan top scored for England with 58, but Ricky Ponting’s mighty 126 from 109 balls helped the Aussies to their victory target with 10 balls to spare.