Strauss leaves door open for Flintoff

Andrew Strauss has refused to shut the door on Andrew Flintoff's international career, despite the allrounder rejecting an incremental contract offered by the ECB. Flintoff on Tuesday reiterated his intention to continue playing one-day and Twenty20 international cricket, but just whether the ECB will call upon his services following his decision to turn down their contract offer is unclear.

Flintoff wrote on his website that his decision was motivated by the opportunity to become a freelance Twenty20 cricketer, and a desire to dictate the terms under which he plays. England team management have yet to decide whether such terms would prevent him from playing for the national team in future, but Strauss left the door ajar for Flintoff to continue his limited-overs career at the elite level.

"If Freddie is committed to playing for England he's still a great asset for us in the shortest forms of the game," Strauss said. "I'm sure he still feels he's got a lot of cricket left in him, but it's a bit too early to react to this at this stage. It's a conversation the ECB will need to have with him and his management over the coming days.

"I think we need to sit down and speak to him as to the reasons he's done that, and then we will make an informed decision as to what that means with his availability going forward. Obviously there is a reason why he hasn't agreed to it and we need to find out what that reason is."

Strauss's Australian counterpart, Ricky Ponting, warned more players could follow Flintoff's lead and walk away from national contracts in preference of lucrative domestic Twenty20 leagues. "I don't know the ins and outs of it," Ponting said, "but I think it probably could happen more and more, especially with guys retiring from Test match cricket and wanting to play only the shorter versions of the game.

"It's the individual's decision. It's the way they want to play their cricket (and) you can't begrudge the players for doing that, especially someone like Flintoff who's played 70-odd Test matches and it's his body that's basically forced him into retirement from Test cricket.

"It's inevitable that it's going to happen. There are a number of one-day tournaments and Twenty20 tournaments that are being played at different times around the world and you can't play everything, so individual players are going to be making up their mind if they want to continue playing Test cricket and representing their country all the time, or if they're going to go and play in these other tournaments. It will happen."