Flintoff rejects England – Arguments For.

Andrew Flintoff has confirmed that he has rejected the offer of a one-day contract with the England & Wales Cricket Board, and will instead become the world's first freelance cricketer in a bid to maximize his considerable earning potential in the final years of his career.

Flintoff retired from Test cricket last month following England's Ashes victory at The Oval, meaning he no longer qualified for one of the ECB's full central contracts. He subsequently underwent a knee operation that will keep him on the sidelines for at least six months, but on Friday he was offered an incremental contract to cover his limited-overs appearances. The option of lucrative Twenty20 deals from the IPL and beyond, however, has proved too tempting to resist.

Followers of the English county game have no reason to be worried about missing Flintoff in full flow, Despite all the high-profile offers that can be expected to come his way, Flintoff is still keen to make a major impact with his county side, Lancashire. "I enjoy playing under Peter Moores and Glen Chapple, our captain, is one of my best mates," he said. "I am desperate to help them achieve success at Old Trafford

There once was a time when the decision that Andrew Flintoff has just reached, even coming in the twilight of his career, would have been greeted with outrage and ostracism. After all, Tony Greig's reputation never recovered from his "defection" to World Series Cricket, and even luminaries such as Alan Knott and Derek Underwood were criticised for putting money ahead of the greater glory of the game.

But there should be no such brickbats lobbed in Flintoff's direction this time around. Cricket has changed massively in the three decades since professionalism took a proper hold, and one look at the sorry non-event taking place in autumnal England right now will confirm that the pursuit of money is the over-riding ambition of everyone involved - boards and players alike.

Ever since he transformed his attitude at the start of the 2003 summer, Flintoff has been the ECB’s  most marketable personality and the heartbeat that pumped the team through its most successful era for five decades, up to and including the 2005 Ashes. And Flintoff himself knows it, because he has belatedly recognised his own worth. Compared to his spontaneity in 2005, his almost staged or “Kodak” moments during the 2009 Ashes were manufactured, most notably his celebration at Lord's.

There was nothing manufactured, however, about the heart-on-sleeve endeavours that led to the “staged” celebrations, and it is clearly not his fault that the feel good factor that he helped to generate this summer has been squandered by greed and daft scheduling. And England will doubtless intend to select him in the shorter formats of the game wherever the opportunity next arises - their looming 7-0 whitewash shows just how hopeless they are without him.

Flintoff rejects England – Arguments Against.

Andrew Flintoff became England’s first ever freelance cricketer yesterday as he rejected England’s offer of an incremental contract. Flintoff would have joined the likes of Ravi Bopara, Luke Wright and Jonathan Trott but instead opted to turn down the offer, choosing instead to become almost a touring cricketer. Flintoff will still represent Lancashire during the season but given the opportunity he will now be able to jet off and represent Chennai Super Kings or any other team around the globe who fancies paying for his services. Flintoff’s reasoning is that at his age he needs not to be told when he can play. On an incremental contract Flintoff would have many restrictions placed on him with regards to when he could play. England players will only be available for three weeks of next year’s IPL, and given his injury hit career Flintoff would most certainly be wrapped up in cotton wool by the powers that be in the England set-up.

Whilst nobody could begrudge Flintoff a little extra freedom, rejecting England’s contract and thus their assistance smacks of arrogance, greed and short-sightedness. If Flintoff was fully-fit, fair enough, but his career has been littered with injury after injury and England’s contract would protect him against this; as it is he will travel from continent to continent putting his body through no end of strain simply in the pursuit of money. Many fans will say this is fair enough, especially those members of the Barmy Army who will cheer his name endlessly after 15 wicketless overs whilst a less fashionable player gets far less recognition for picking up vital wickets, but it seems that patriotism and gratitude are no longer facets of the game. Flintoff has been pivotal to England’s success since 2003, so you cannot forget England’s debt to him as well, but how about all those months England have waited for him to recover from injury? How about “Super” Fred turning up hung-over to training in Australia? What about the infamous Fredalo scandal in 2007 when Flintoff was essentially an embarrassment? England stuck by him through all this because they needed him in the team, now he’s retired from Test Cricket Freddy appears to have forgotten the three lions tattoo on his arm, thinking only instead of pound signs.

Flintoff’s decision is just another example of the effect money now has on the game. Cricketers will talk of burnout and it is true that they never seem to stop playing any more, but given the opportunity of a few weeks break, they elope to India to pick up a fat cheque. Either their sub-standard performances aren’t really a result of fatigue as we are all led to believe, or this fatigue mysteriously vanishes when money is offered. Flintoff claims to be a proud Englishman but he may well miss England tours to represent an Australian, South African or West Indian domestic side. How will the super Freddy Flintoff fans feel when he declares himself unavailable for a tour? It is also an insult to other English players; players on the county scene who work tooth and nail to even get a sniff of a contract. If Freddy is available for half a tour and someone steps in, how will they feel when Flintoff returns from one of his international sojourns and replaces them?

Some would say it’s not Freddy’s fault it is simply the way the game has moved on, and it would be fair to agree with that assessment if the player rejecting the contract was someone who had been treated poorly by England; if Dimi Mascarenhas or Samit Patel fancied going freelance it would make sense. Flintoff is a man of the people, who wears his heart on his sleeve, and to reject England is a slap in the face for English fans who have backed him so much over the years, and an insult to England who have worked tirelessly with him since he came into the side 10 years ago. This is not intended in an inflammatory way, it’s based more on disappointment, because Flintoff is a quality player and the first time that England are playing, whilst Flintoff wears the kit of a foreign domestic side elsewhere, is going to be very difficult for English fans to take.