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Andrew Flintoff heads the list of my favourite England cricketers. It’s almost impossible to find anything about the big bloke from Lancashire not to like. He hits the ball as hard as Hayden and Gilchrist, and delivers it as fast as Lee and Johnson. And, he doesn’t mind a beer and a pie either.
If “good enough to play for Australia” is the ultimate compliment I can pay the man they call “Freddie”, then I’ll get it out there early.
From the first time he graced our shores in 2002/03, albeit briefly before returning home injured, Flintoff has consistently been the one player from the Motherland we’d love to have in the Baggy Green.
Of course, it was the last Ashes series in England where the Flintoff legend was confirmed. 402 runs and 25 wickets ensured that just as the 1981 series will forever be known as “Botham’s Ashes”, 2005 will go down as “Freddie’s Ashes”.
But Flintoff stunned the cricket world last week, when on the eve of the Second Ashes Test at Lord’s, he announced that he would retire from Test cricket at the end of the series. He said that his body was starting to tell him that the grind and workload of Test cricket was becoming too much, and that it was time he listened.
He will remain available for one-day and Twenty20 internationals for England, he said.
Now I hate when this happens, but straight away my inner-cynic’s ears pricked up at this news.
The first thing scribbled into my notebook on reading this report was “the next pro Twenty20 millionaire?”
Various articles and reports across the weekend, including on The Roar, have been quick to point out how Flintoff is set to cash in on his sudden availability for the various short-form competitions.
Already on the biggest contract in the Indian Premier League, Flintoff would seem certain to make his Chennai Super Kings bosses very happy next April, by now not having to miss a large chunk of the IPL tournament because of a pesky Test call-up.
Even Queensland have been quick out of the blocks, and are already said to have had “preliminary discussions” about Flintoff taking part in the Twenty20 Big Bash next January. Enquires from new and existing pro leagues in England and South Africa won’t be too far behind.
By taking short-term contracts for the rest of his days, Flintoff is setting himself up for …well, retirement.
This in itself is nothing new. Australian rugby league players have been signing “superannuation” contracts with English clubs for years, and likewise, there’s always been a steady stream of southern hemisphere rugby players heading north, lured by euros or yen.
And since the advent of the IPL, and even its rebel sibling, the Indian Cricket League (ICL), former international players have been able to keep their toes in the water for six weeks a year, and earn a small fortune while doing so.
Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden dominated this year’s IPL, which would have been fine if it wasn’t at the same time that the Australian team was struggling in 20 – and 50 – over matches against Pakistan in Dubai.
So while no-one begrudges any professional player the ability to earn an income – especially given their maximum earning window might be measured in months, not years – the concern in my mind is that Flintoff’s “retirement” will be the first of many.
Any international player who suddenly finds themselves struggling to get through a Test season injury-free, or can’t maintain motivation for five days, or dare I say it, not able to stay off the drink when they said they would, will now give this move some serious thought.
And why wouldn’t they?
Players will see billion-dollar tournament broadcast rights being sold and naturally wonder how they might be able to secure even a tiny sliver for themselves.
The worry for me will be if the current sporadic drip of players walking away from Test cricket becomes a steady trickle. Even more so will be if the players “retiring” are getting younger when doing so.
In the case of Flintoff, it was pretty apparent he was labouring toward the end of the Cardiff Test, and he was used sparingly in Australia’s first innings at Lord’s. Clearly, it looks to be a case of England nursing him through the early Tests to ensure he gets a fitting farewell by seeing out the Ashes series.
And once he walks off The Oval at the end of the series, and his last Test, Freddie Flintoff will begin the type of retirement that I think we may have to start getting used to.