Optimism should delay Flintoff call

For cricketers April is the most optimistic month. Dreams have yet to be shattered. The muscles have been toned in the gym; new shots have been honed in the indoor nets (not the forward defensive - there is no money in that anymore - but exotic flicks over the keeper's head).

All teams are still on course for those trophies. Individual players can contemplate the run glut or wicket haul that might lead to international recognition and - who knows? - a contract with an Indian franchise. It has yet to become obvious that this year's batch of balls are not swinging, that the batmaker has dispatched a duff implement and that the selectors are overseeing a cartel that protects those they have previously awarded central contracts.


We shall seek to maintain this mood of optimism for as long as possible even though the brightest lights of English cricket, now known as the Lions, could make little impact for the MCC against Sussex at Lord's. The county champions piled on the runs between the showers.

It was not a day for wrist-spinners, barely 10C and a pitch of cold, dry grass. So Adil Rashid, though he bowled respectably, could have little impact. Rashid is the most interesting of the wannabees, who could one day have a role in a revamped England lower middle-order alongside a burly Lancastrian, who will be resuming his first-class career at the Oval on Wednesday.

Yes, Andrew Flintoff is back on the agenda. Reports of his progress on Lancashire's pre-season tour in Dubai were encouraging. Flintoff himself is bullish: 'There's a Test match [the first against New Zealand starting on 15 May] that I'd love to be involved in.'

Let us stay optimistic and assume that Flintoff's ankle does not rebel when he starts the season for Lancashire. My inclination would not be to bring him back to international cricket immediately. He needs to prove not only fitness, but form. The ideal would be to reintroduce him for the third Test against New Zealand on 5 June at Trent Bridge; then some one-day internationals; then the series against South Africa when England will need to be at their best to win.

In Peter Moores' utopia Flintoff might bat at six, Rashid at seven, a wicketkeeper, presumably Tim Ambrose, at eight, Stuart Broad at nine. On dry pitches, which favour a second spinner, that is a potent lower middle-order.

The ECB's central contract system has served Flintoff well over the past couple of years, when he has barely played for England. Since he is instinctively loyal we do not anticipate Flintoff bellyaching about the Indian Premier League as soon as he proves his fitness again.

The advent of the IPL has overshadowed the ritual opening match of the season, which has long been an anachronism anyway (why do we launch the season before winter's out?). The IPL is often perceived as a threat; it could just as easily be seen as an opportunity.

Already it has raised the profile of the game as we contemplate whether the format will work and whether the matches will matter. Assume it is a success: what happens to our summer game?

The impetus to create a 'window' when all international players, including England's, are available for the IPL will strengthen. As a result it becomes necessary to revamp an international calendar that is random and bloated. If the ICC's role becomes diminished in the process, who cares? In England the Twenty20 competition may also be relaunched, perhaps enlarged, so that we have three domestic competitions that mirror what happens at international level. Thus the Pro40 is ditched. More good news.

Currently, the perception is that Giles Clarke, the chairman of the ECB, is the arch establishment man, desperate to preserve the status quo, rebuffing Kevin Pietersen's cravings to play in the IPL. That is not quite accurate. Clarke and Lalit Modi, the pioneer of the IPL, are peas from the same pod, open to any lucrative project.

But for the moment it suits Clarke to sound bullish, see how the IPL functions and sort out the odd compromise later. In any case how many English players are currently hot property? Pietersen certainly, Flintoff if fit, but not many others. Twenty20 specialist Luke Wright? Maybe, even though the Sussex youngster suggested yesterday that he might be learning to play some longer innings as well.