ANDREW Flintoff will play in the Indian Premier League next season, according to the tournament’s chairman Lalit Modi.

The Lancashire all-rounder is top of the megabucks Twenty20 league’s wish-list alongside England captain Kevin Pietersen.

However, as with all England players, Freddie must wait to see if the terms of his next ECB central contract allows him to play in the IPL.If the 30-year-old star does sign up, he can expect to earn a six-figure fee for a couple of weeks’ work. But he would probably miss the start of Lancashire’s 2009 campaign.

While most of cricket’s biggest names cashed in on this year’s inaugural event, English players were conspicuous by their absence with only Hampshire all-rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas taking a bit-role with eventual winners Rajasthan.Players have been able to double or even triple their annual incomes in a few weeks with the IPL, with India’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni the top earner on $4.5m for three seasons with the Chennai Super Kings.

“As for the influx of English players I am certain that the Indian Premier League will definitely see the likes of Flintoff and Pietersen playing next year,” said Modi, who is now one of the leading figures in world cricket.

Having proven he is finally over his ankle woes with some outstanding displays for England this summer, Freddie will join England in Antigua at the end of next month for the multi-million dollar Stanford Super Series, which sees the national side take on a West Indies All-Star XI, with the winning players walking away with £570,000 each.

That has been seen as the ECB’s way of stopping their top stars being lured by the IPL in what will be a busy year for England, which starts with a tour of the West Indies followed by the World Twenty20 tournament, a visit by Sri Lanka and then the Ashes.

Following the trip to Antigua, Flintoff and Lancashire team-mate Jimmy Anderson will travel to India in December for the start of a tour which includes two Tests and seven one-day internationals. LANCASHIRE suffered last-ball heartbreak in the final of the Over-50s County Championship.

Needing four to beat Oxfordshire on the Nursery Ground at Lord’s, Lancashire instead lost their final wicket to lose by three runs.Middleton captain John Punchard was man of the match, scoring 76 and finishing with figures of 2-14 from his nine overs.

At one point Lancashire had reduced Oxfordshire to 53-6, but 75 from Adrian Manger helped them to 186-8 from their 45 overs.And although they got off to a solid start, Lancashire fell just short of their target as they were bowled out for 183.
Source: manchestereveningnews.co.uk