equatorIt should be noted that I have no problem with Freddie not signing his ECB contract. White ball games, even international ones, are about fat cash, and why shouldn’t a player make some big bucks when people like Freddie have been used as money mules for Giles Clarke and his foppish hair.
There is no integrity in white ball cricket outside of the world cup, and even the ICC find ways to fuck that up, so if someone’s body honestly can’t get through 5 days of cricket, and he has showed that he is willing to push his gimpy frame to the limit to try (not just pull out all the time Jacob), then I can’t stay mad at him.
I would have liked Freddie to be a bit more honest, don’t give us shit about wanting to improve your game by playing all over the world, just come out and say, “bitch please, it’s about the Benjamins”.
However all this talk about him being an 18 million dollar player and the first globetrotting 2020 cricketer seems a bit stupid.
Dirk Nannes has already played for 5 2020 sides around the world without being freelance.
And Freddie is not that good at 2020 cricket.
In 7 international T20 games he has 76 runs, and 5 wickets at 32 (good econ of 6.44).
In domestic t20 he has a batting average of 24, but his bowling record is much better, average of 20, econ of 6.96.
Those are not the numbers of a 2020 superstar.
For Chennai he was a waste of space. Him and Oram clogged up the middle order time and time again, and he also went the distance with his bowling a couple of times.
Even when he played for the world XI he was only average.
Part of Freddie’s brilliance comes from the fact he puts in everything he has when representing Lancashire and England, two places he loves dearly.
I doubt he has a real deep-seated love of Natal, South Australia or Chennai.
Then compare him Andrew Symonds as a freelancer.
Symonds averages 48 in international T20 cricket, and 45 in domestic t20. Plus he can bowl a couple of overs, and when fit (which both men may never be again) is a predator in the field.
He’s a 2020 destructor, and his average IPL team won the title with him starring.
Chubby Chandler get people talking about 18 million dollar 5 year plans, bungee jumping and 5 continents, but eventually people will talk about Freddie on the field, and if he doesn’t lift his 2020 game, he might find himself on a celebrity dancing show.
And with his knees I doubt he could win that.
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I suppose the question will be – how much money can he make for a team/franchise before they realise the money was an ordinary investment?
And 5 year plans? Who would gamble on Freddie’s body for that length of time? Chubby is a goose
I didn’t see many English people wearing Chennai shirts last year. The only shirt i saw anyone wear from the IPL was a RCB one.
So you saw KP out on the town in the UK in his IPL kit? That guy will do anything for a dollar
symonds looks like a predator too
Won’t his legs break if he goes bunjy-jumping?
One can see where Flintoff is coming from. Retired from the Tests, playing only limited over white ball crapfests. The only honour (sort of) in the ODIs is in the World Cup and Champions Trophy(again, very subjective). He is too banged up to play this Champions Trophy. World Cup ain’t happening till 2011. He himself must not be sure whether he can keep up with it.
So why sign that stupid 5000 pound contract which the ECB is so magnamiously throwing at him? He might as well play the T20 all over the world which definitely are not half as taxing as a 50 over game (Hell, I can go through a twenty over game without major damage and so can middle aged pot bellied uncles who used to play them every Sunday at a ground near my home)
The only problem will be with the NOC that IPL asks from the boards. But then, will ECB risk looking pettyminded if and when they do not give England’s beloved Freddie an NOC and hence stop him from earning his bread (sarcasm) after he so gallantly with weak knees served his country and bought the Ashes back (heavy sarcasm). I would. But the ECB, they like all cricket boards think funny.