Do not fear Freddie the freelancer
Andrew Flintoff was recently offered an incremental contract by the ECB but could reject it in favour of going freelance
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
AFP
Andrew Flintoff was recently offered an incremental contract by the ECB but could reject it in favour of going freelance. As a freelancer, playing all IPL matches for the Chennai Super Kings, Flintoff could earn a million dollars a year, considerably more than what he'd earn if he stayed with England. But a lot of the star's earning power via endorsements is contingent on his being an international player. On cricket365.com Alan Tyers writes that England fans should say to Flintoff: thanks for all that you've done, now go off and earn your money as you see fit.
There will no doubt be plenty of people who will thunder that it is a disgrace anyone could even consider playing for Twenty20 franchises when there is a chance of an England cap on offer. To them I would say: it's only the England ODI side. A lot of people would pay good money NOT to be in the England ODI side at the moment, given the utter mediocrity and the endless slog of meaningless fixtures. If, for example, the ECB are trying to promote an ODI against West Indies with a weakened XI while Flintoff is simultaneously off earning a crust with the Durban Ringbinders or whoever, then they are indeed going to have problems. But maybe that is not the end of the world: if they can't sell the ODIs, maybe we will stop having so bloody many of them.
Nishi Narayanan is a staff writer at ESPNcricinfo