(Reuters) – Former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff will be hoping his return to competitive action is profitable on and off the field after agreeing a deal with county side Lancashire that will earn him a cut of the gate receipts.
The 36-year-old Flintoff, who retired in 2010 having played 79 tests, 141 one-day internationals and seven T20 matches, will pocket one pound ($1.68) for every spectator who attends Twenty20 matches at Old Trafford because of his return to action.
Since the announcement of his comeback, the ‘Flintoff factor’ seems to have paid off as Lancashire have sold 500 tickets a day ahead of Friday’s T20 match against Yorkshire which is expected to be a 16,000 sell-out.
Flintoff, who made 80 first-class appearances for Lancashire, dusted off his whites on Saturday in preparation for the match against Yorkshire, taking three wickets from 12 overs for his northern league club side St Annes.
“It was nice to get 12 overs under my belt,” said Flintoff, who will play a maximum of 12 matches over the next nine weeks if Lancashire reach the T20 final.
“I’m just going to see where it goes. I appreciate that Lancashire are on a roll in Twenty20s and there’s Jos (Buttler) and Jimmy (Anderson) and people to come back in to that side.
“So it’s not a gimme that I’m going to play. But I’m going to try to put myself in the frame.” ($1 = 0.5962 British Pounds)
