Flintoff rejects England contract

Could this be the end of Flintoff's England playing career?

Andrew Flintoff has turned down the offer of signing a contract with the England and Wales Cricket Board.

The 31-year-old all-rounder has retired from Tests but was offered a lower-tier "incremental" deal to play limited-overs internationals for England.

Flintoff, recovering from knee surgery in Dubai, is keen on playing for a number of teams around the globe.

"At this stage of my career I don't think I need to be told when to play and when to rest," Flintoff said.

The player's agent revealed at the weekend that Flintoff intended to play for as many as six teams on five continents once he has recovered from injury.

He should now be free to play Twenty20 in the Indian Premier League.

Although reiterating his desire to continue playing for both Lancashire and England, Flintoff emphasised the benefits of playing around the globe.

"I said when I retired from Test cricket my ambition was to become the best one-day and Twenty20 player in the world and playing in all these different countries can only help," the Preston-born star said in a statement on his own website.

Flintoff gave up Test cricket after helping England win back the Ashes in August, and is currently in Dubai recovering from recent knee surgery that will rule him out of cricket for the next six months.

His agent Andrew "Chubby" Chandler flew to Flintoff's temporary base in the United Arab Emirates on Monday where the two discussed the pros and cons of an ECB tie-in.

606: DEBATE Does this mean that Flintoff's England career is over and he is just going to become a mercenary for high paid 20/20 leagues? sufferingsurreyfan

Chandler told the Observer newspaper that Flintoff would play for Chennai Super Kings in next spring's Indian Premier League (IPL), while pursuing deals with teams in Australia, South Africa and the West Indies.

In refusing to sign his ECB deal, he has effectively become a freelance cricketer - and is the first English player to do so since the central contract system was drawn up in 1999.

Flintoff's spokesman Myles Hodgson told BBC Sport on Monday that whether the contract was signed or not, the England player was determined to carry on playing for his country.

The incremental deal was thought to be worth approximately £50,000, with Flintoff's professional salary supplemented by Lancashire - while IPL side Chennai would pay him an annual fee of $1.55m (£935,000).

England team director Andy Flower has said his players can take part in only three weeks of the IPL next year if they are picked to tour Bangladesh in February and March.

The IPL will run from 45 days from 12 March, while the exact dates for the Bangladesh tour have not yet been announced.

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