Stani Army

So Andrew Flintoff has decided to become a freelance cricketer after rejecting an incremental contract offered to him by the ECB?

If anything, it shows how desperate, short sighted and foolish the ECB were for giving him a contract in the first place. Now he’s chucked it in their face, how silly do they look? Even Flintoff himself said he was “flattered” and wasn’t “expecting” a contract. Not only did the ECB offer him the contract but they are also paying for Dave Roberts the physio to help Flintoff  recover in Dubai. Surely the ECB should have only offered this if Flintoff was contractually bound otherwise why does he deserve it? A board paying for a physio for a freelance cricketer? Crazy.

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Errr, no. I can only think of one footballer who has mentioned the fact that he enjoys watching cricket and believe it or not he’s a German, Dietmar Hamann, formerly of Manchester City and currently a free agent. Yet not even he chooses cricket as a training exercise or to warm up so why is the opposite true? Why do cricketers choose football?

England’s Joe Denly just recently twisted his knee before the second ODI against Australia whilst playing football in a practice session. Now he comes from a nation that supposedly invented the sport. Yes, something else the English invented but are now rubbish at. Not only that, Denly actually had professional trials as a youngster but gave up after getting “shoved about a bit”. Do not be surprised if he retires from cricket in the near future. He sustained his injury after a challenge from the Karachi born Owais Shah.

Younis Khan, the Pakistan captain, is a big fan of football too and will be Pakistan’s ambassador at next year’s football World Cup in South Africa. From the picture below, I’d advise Younis to stick to his ambassadorial role only. Here we see him in not the most graceful of positions and had the ankle sprain fairy been around, it would have quite happily seized its moment. As Umar Gul prances along with his two inch high Nikes

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Did the ECB really need the Twenty20 World Cup to finally realise the commercial viability of hosting Pakistan games? Looks as though they did, but Stani Army is certainly glad the slap in the face has woke them up. If Giles Clarke and his sidekicks thought Stanford was a goer, why on earth did they take so long to spot something which quite clearly made sense? Maybe they like dodgy deals better.

A few months back, as the PCB began looking for venues to host their home games, it was becoming increasingly clear that England as a venue was not at the top of the PCB’s list, due to the costs of staying and playing here. Stani Army did suggest at the time that the ECB and PCB should go to all lengths and try to make it happen as it would be a guaranteed success for all parties due to the large Pakistani community in England.

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With Pakistan searching for a home to host Australia next year, the minnows of Ireland and Scotland are emerging as favourites. It has been banded about that one of the reasons for this is that it would help the minnows get more competitive cricket. Pakistan has done a lot for smaller nations in the past (Sri Lanka, Bangladesh) and still is with Afghanistan and China, but the simple reason that the PCB would go for Ireland or Scotland to host their matches is cost.

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The recent introduction of the money spinning Twenty20 Indian leagues has seen a number of players’ heads turn towards the subcontinent. Mouths watering and dollar signs in their eyes they seem to have forgotten what it means to represent their country.

The same, thankfully, cannot be said about some of the top English players who have recently come out in the media saying that they have no need to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Indian Cricket League (ICL) as they are already adequately taken care of by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). What this shows is that if a board takes care of its top players financially (and in other ways) then the players would in return repay their faith.

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