Flintoff's plans shot down by Modi

Flintoff, who quit Tests after the Ashes, was offered an incremental contract worth £25,000 on Friday by the England and Wales Cricket Board but according to reports, the talismanic all-rounder is planning to reject it and turn a freelancer cricketer.

Modi said such a move might jeopardise Flintoff’s $1.5 million salary with the Chennai Super Kings as he would need ECB clearance to play in the IPL.

“There are no issues as our stance is clear. If a player has once been contracted by a member ICC country, then he will have to produce an NOC to play in the IPL even if he decides not to be contracted in the future for a period of two years,” Modi told The Daily Telegraph.

“Therefore, in the specific case of Flintoff yes, he will need an NOC to participate in IPL even if he turns down the central contract, and will continue to need that for another two years,” he added.

The ECB had issued Flintoff a two-year NOC in 2008 but could hold back in future if he refuses to sign the contract and sets a precedent that other players could follow.

Even though the ECB will not legally be able to prevent Flintoff from playing in the 2010 IPL, the board may withhold an NOC in future, the newspaper reported.
According to Flintoff’s agent Andrew Chandler, the beefy all-rounder, who is recovering from knee surgery, might consider playing for six teams in five different continents.

Chandler said offers have been received from teams in South Africa and Flintoff would target deals in Australia and the West Indies.

‘KP’s support helped’

It was never easy to take over the reins from Kevin Pietersen following the dispute with then coach Peter Moores, but the England batsman himself promised full support which helped him take a final call, revealed skipper Andrew Strauss.

Strauss, who led England to a 2-1 win over Australia to regain the Ashes urn, wrote in his autobiography Testing Times that initially, he hesitated before taking the final call as didn’t have any idea about how to break the ice in the team.

“Just as I had told him (Pietersen), when he had asked my opinion about his taking on the captaincy, that he would be a fool not to accept it, so I said this time that I would be a fool if I did not accept.

“And he said: ‘No problems, I will back you 100 percent. My problem is with the ECB and Peter Moores’. I knew there were issues between the captain and coach... like everyone else in the team, I did not know how they would be played out,” the book was quoted as saying in The Telegraph.

Strauss recalled those difficult moments in the book.