Flintoff named in Chennai's preliminary squad

Andrew Flintoff has been named in Chennai Super Kings' squad for the 2010 Champions League even though he has yet to make his return from the knee injury which has kept him out of action since last year's Ashes series.

Flintoff is currently working towards a return to domestic cricket with Lancashire, but is still at least a couple of weeks away from first-team action where he hopes to play purely as batsman. He aims to be able to bowl next month and has admitted he will only know how his body will stand up once he gets the ball in hand.

He signed for Chennai in 2009 for a record $1.55m, making him the most expensive player alongside Kevin Pietersen, but he played only three matches before returning home injured having made 62 runs and taken two expensive wickets. His post-Ashes knee surgery then ruled him out of this year's edition of the tournament.

Flintoff still harbours ambitions of forcing his way back into the England one-day line-up and is also considering options to play in Twenty20 leagues around the world. However, although the signs are promising for a return to action he is remaining realistic.

"It's been a long road with the rehab since then but I'm hoping to play again in the next few weeks," he told Sky Sports News. "I'm back in the nets at Lancashire and from nowhere I've found the ability to bat again which is encouraging, I'm hitting the ball.

"I'm going to have to play in second team first and force my way back into the first team but with the way I'm batting, I'm hoping to do that with the bat initially and then pick up the bowling from there."

Eight of the nine confirmed teams for the 2010 Champions League have now announced their preliminary squads for the tournament to be held in South Africa between September 10-26. Wayamba, the representatives from Sri Lanka, have yet to name their provisional party. The tenth team in the tournament will be the winner of the Caribbean T20 which ends on July 30. All teams have until August 9 to declare their final squads of 15.

Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni, S Badrinath, M Vijay, Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel (wk), R Ashwin, Shadab Jakati, Sudeep Tyagi, S Anirudha, L Balaji, Muttiah Muralitharan, Michael Hussey, Albie Morkel, Thilan Thushara, Thissara Perera, Doug Bollinger, Matthew Hayden, Andrew Flintoff, Joginder Sharma, Abhinav Mukund

Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar, Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Saurabh Tiwary, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, R Sathish, Ali Murtaza, Dhawal Kulkarni, Abhishek Nayar, Abu Nechim Ahmed, Ajinkya Rahane, Kieran Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Sushant Marathe, JP Duminy, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Ryan McLaren, Luke Ronchi

Central Districts: Adam Milne, Ben Wheeler, Bevan Griggs, Bevan Small, Brad Patton, Brendon Diamanti, Dane Cleaver, Doug Bracewell, George Worker, Jacob Oram, Jamie How, Jeremy Kuru, Kieran Noema-Barnett, Mathew Sinclair, Michael Mason, Mitchell McLeneghan, Peter Ingram, Ross Taylor, Seth Rance, Tim Weston

Highveld Lions: Alviro Peterson, Thami Tsolekile, Craig Alexander, Shane Burger, Richard Cameron, Themba Bavuma, Werner Coetsee, Stephen Cook, Cliffie Deacon, Zander de Bruyn, Robert Frylinck, Pumelala Matchikew, Andre Nel, Neil McKenzie, Aaron Phangiso, Ethan O'Reilly, Jean Symes, Dane Vilas, Jonathan Vandiar, Vaughn van Jaarsveld

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Virat Kohli, Cameron White, Ross Taylor, Dale Steyn, Jacques Kallis, Dillon Du Preez, Steven Smith, Akhil Balachandra, Abhimanyu Mithun, Nayan Doshi, Pankaj Singh, Sridharan Sriram, Udit Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar

South Australian Redbacks: Cullen Bailey, James Smith, Daniel Harris, Graham Manou, Daniel Christian, Gary Putland, Peter George, Callum Ferguson, Michael Klinger, Kane Richardson, Michael Cranmer, Jake Haberfield, Tim Ludeman, Shaun Tait, Tom Cooper, Chris Duval, Cameron Borgas, Aaron O'Brien, Daniel Cullen, Joel Davies

Victorian Bushrangers: Dwayne Bravo, Ryan Carters, Aaron Finch, Shane Harwood, John Hastings, Bradley Hodge, Jon Holland, David Hussey, Andrew McDonald, Bryce McGain, Clinton McKay, Glenn Maxwell, Dirk Nannes, Darren Pattinson, James Pattinson, Robert Quiney, Peter Siddle, Matthew Wade, Cameron White, Damien Wright

Warriors: Davey Jacobs, Ashwell Prince, Colin Ingram, Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher, Johan Botha, Nicky Boje, Craig Thyssen, Juan Theron, Wayne Parnell, Makhaya Ntini, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Justin Kreusch, Garnett Kruger, Arno Jacobs, Lyall Meyer, Andrew Birch, Kelly Smuts, Jon Jon Smuts, Corbyn Dolley