5:14pm Friday 9th July 2010
CHORLEY are set to miss out on an historic day as it appears highly unlikely that Andrew Flintoff will make his cricketing comeback at Windsor Park tomorrow.
The England all-rounder, who has not played since the Ashes last year and has retired from Test and first class cricket, seems certain to take his first steps back onto the comeback trail with an appearance for his old club St Annes as he aims for a return to the limited overs game.
And with Chorley facing St Annes at Windsor Park tomorrow, there were hopes that the 32-year-old would feature in the Northern League game.
But it now appears that he will not be ready for this weekend despite stepping up his training routine at Old Trafford and St Annes seeking clarification over Northern League rules regarding professionals.
However, as Flintoff was an amateur at Vernon Road at the very start of his career he would be allowed to turn out for them as long as he doesn’t take an engagement as a professional.
St Annes president Brian Standing, who is also the president of the Northern League, admits it would be great for the league – and St Annes – if Flintoff would play and said: “It started off as a bit of a joke to be honest.
“People were saying that if a current Lancashire player like Steven Croft is allowed to turn out for Blackpool, why can’t Andrew Flintoff play again for us?
“I don’t want to say too much but Lancashire have confirmed that he has shown an interest, we’ll have to take it from there.”
With or without Flintoff – and he has not been named in St Annes’ team – Chorley face a tough test against the reigning champions, who are in third spot and boast in form professional Dinuk Hettiarachchi as well as former Pakistan Test batsman Atiq uz-Zaman in their ranks.
But Chorley professional JJ Smuts is looking good and will want to shine before leaving the club early to join the South Africa Emerging Players tour of Australia.
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