London, December 16: It may have been more than a decade since Andrew Flintoff made his debut, but the all-rounder claims his best is yet to come forEngland and insists that his decision to retire from Test cricket had anything to do with riches from domestic T20s tournaments.
Flintoff announced his retirement from Test cricket after England’s Ashes win against Australia in August this year but the star all-rounder will continue to play in one-dayers and Twenty20 forEngland.
”My intentions are to play every one-day and Twenty20 game for England,” claimed the burly all-rounder. He said it would be harsh on him to say that he hung up his boots from Test cricket because of the money that he could make from domestic cricket around the world.
”I would never turn down England. I have shown more than enough passion over the years, and that’s not something you lose because I don’t have a contract.
”If I didn’t think I was going to play for England again, I would not have had this latest operation, no way. It is all about playing for England. ”I’m not sure I have even played my best yet, especially in one-day cricket, so now I am having this break I think I have got the chance to get better as a player. I genuinely think I can now play my best ever cricket,” Flintoff said in an interview with the January issue of ‘The Wisden Cricketer’ magazine.
The 32-year-old turned into a freelance cricketer after his retirement from Tests and said he would now play for domestic teams around the world.
He is already a part of the IPL’s Chennai Super Kings along with his county team Lancashire and said he would like to play in Australia’s Big Bash as well.
”I want to play for England and Lancashire, I’ve got my contract with Chennai and now I have the opportunity to play around the world as well. ”I’m really keen to play in Australia, which has always been an ambition of mine. When Im fit again I would love to play in their Big Bash Twenty20 competition,” he stated.
However, he denied that more players would follow his footsteps and would go for premature retirements to lay their hands on the money available in the domestic Twenty20 tournaments.
”I don’t think other players will follow what I’ve done. There is a real misconception at the moment, people go on about the riches involved in Twenty20 cricket, but you earn your reputation playing Test cricket and everyone wants to play that, and then maybe later on in your career some players will have a choice, especially bowlers, who can’t play everything forever.”
–Agencies