Following Andrew Flintoff’s announcement that he will retire from international cricket after the Ashes, a number of overseas sides (notably the Queensland Bulls) have expressed a renewed interest in signing him for their respective domestic Twenty20 competitions.
The obvious parallel to draw is with another big-hitting all-rounder with a ‘history’ and a well-publicised taste for beer, Andrew Symonds, who also plays for Queensland (alongside Flintoff’s former captain at Lancashire, Stuart Law, although Symonds’ Queensland future is uncertain at the moment) and has recently been rumoured to be planning a new career as a globe-trotting Twenty20 specialist, a path that may appeal to Flintoff. In any case, it seems likely that – unlike in Symonds’ case - England will still benefit from Flintoff’s limited-overs skills for some time to come, although his county may not – Lancashire were apparently as surprised as anyone else to hear the news.
[...] has been a lot of talk recently about the rise of Twenty20 freelancers, with Andrew Symonds and Andrew Flintoff both being linked speculatively with the idea of wandering Twenty20 specialists playing in four or [...]
[...] months of the rise of the freelance cricketer, with first Andrew Symonds, then Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff being linked with the idea. Now it seems that the latter is set to lead the way, having turned down [...]