24 February 2009

Should Flintoff risk his Ashes fitness to play in the IPL?

If England are to regain the Ashes this summer, everyone knows that they need to have Andrew Flintoff firing on all cylinders. He is England’s talisman and was the difference between the two sides back in 2005 when England secured a 2-1 series victory.

At this moment in time Flintoff is recovering from a hip injury that is set to rule him out of the fourth test against the West Indies. Once he has returned to the fold, the only significant gap in the international calendar occurs in April when Flintoff is scheduled to play in the Indian Premier League.

This means that leading up to the most important series of them all; Flintoff is going to undergo a process of recovering from injury and then constant cricket. Surely a rest wouldn’t do him any harm?

Speaking about the situation, Flintoff has declared that he expects to be fit to play for the Chennai Super Kings – who have paid £1million for his services – and that he doesn’t even expect it to be ‘touch and go’.

The all-rounder then went on to say that he is ‘intending to go’ despite speculation that the ECB may prevent him doing so to ensure his fitness for the English summer.

Flintoff’s fitness ambitions aren’t as long-term as the IPL at this moment in time though as he says that the competition isn’t at the ‘forefront’ of his thinking right now.

Instead, he is determined to be fit for the final test in the Caribbean and the One Day Internationals that follow it. The cricket odds would certainly expect more England success if this was the case.

However, there has to be concerns about the amount of cricket Flintoff is set to take on following this latest injury. What if he was to suffer from exhaustion or pick up a new injury during the IPL?

You can’t put a price on playing for England against Australia, after all.

By Thomas Rooney – A sports writer who blogs about cricket betting

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am sure Chennai Super Kings Support Staff is competent enough to ensure that the key players like Flintoff does not suffer any major injuries.. Look at what participating in IPL did to Raina (India), Albie Morkel (South Africa).. I am sure Flintoff would come a better player after his stint at Chennai Super Kings..

- Robin

Jonathan said...

No support staff are able to ensure no major injuries - they happen sometimes. More to the point, this is not about avoiding injuries, but about how to recover from an existing one.

NR said...

Its a silly point raised by the ECB as Flintoff can get injured or save him for the Ashes series as it can happen that he may be get injured during Ashes then what does ECB do. One cant preserve its players...if this was the case then ECB should not play him any series and just play him in Ashes. The amount of money Flintoff is getting in IPL he wont get even playing Test Cricket and any one will see him anyhow convincing the ECB to allow him to play. Actually ECB has a problem with IPL from the time it was launched as they never allowed their players to participate in the first edition. Even the loss against WI some players blamed IPL auction for it...so foolish of them.
There's nothing good as match fitness before a big series and one cannot protect anyone by covering him as he may not got hurt...if he has to he will and if not he wont as simple. Flintoff is a great cricketer and know how is body is and should he play or not it should be left to him.

guestblogger said...

It seems that this is in further doubt now as Flintoff has flown home from the West Indies today. He hopes to be back for the ODI's though.

Would the IPL be helpful or destructive for his Ashes fitness do we think?

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