Ponting believes more players will be going freelance

NOTTINGHAM - Australian skipper Ricky Ponting expects more cricketers to follow Andrew Flintoff and Andrew Symonds in going freelance.

Flintoff has rejected an incremental contract with his country and is reportedly been the target of interest from South Australia and Northerns in South Africa.

Symonds is considering Twenty20 options around the world after his national career stalled because of disciplinary issues.

Ponting said while he didn’t know the reasons behind Flintoff’s decision, but he expected other players to go down that road.

“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,” The Australian quoted Ponting, as saying.

“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 anyway,” he added.

Ponting said it would be interesting to see whether England continued to select Flintoff once he recovers from knee surgery. (ANI)