Forget about The Ashes (if you haven’t already), for the country is ablaze with talk of the ferocious battle between five counties to secure the remaining promotion spot in County Championship Division Two.

With Kent already promoted, the five teams immediately below them are separated by just 15 points and are currently involved in their penultimate matches. There’s more: second (Northamptonshire) are taking on third (Essex), fourth (Gloucestershire) are playing sixth (Glamorgan) and fifth (Derbyshire) have it easy against second-bottom rubbish (Middlesex). Read the rest of this entry »

It’s not been an easy decision, but once it became clear that I might have to play in this England one-day side, I knew I had to take action.

There comes a time in every sportsman’s life when he has to think about providing for his nearest and dearest and the thought of going through the rest of my career without ever seeing a win bonus is just not a risk the Flintoff family can afford to take. It’s a short career and I would like to at some point be involved in winning a limited-overs game.

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