There is no better time for Andrew Flintoff to restate his star quality than on this England tour of India and he has wasted no time in doing just that. A hundred against a Mumbai Cricket Association XI in the opening 50-over warm-up might have lacked the kudos of his last century, against Australia at Trent Bridge during England's triumphant 2005 Ashes series, but, as Flintoff himself sagely put it, it was "a starting point".A starting point to where nobody quite knows. His priority is England success in India. But the game is shifting, the Indian Premier League is lurking in the background and Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals, where his old mate Shane Warne is captain, and Bangalore Royal Challengers are prominent among the franchises thought to be yearning for his signature.
Soon after England leave for Rajkot, and the first one-day international on Friday, the England and Wales Cricket Board's chief executive, David Collier, arrives for discussions with Lalit Modi, commissioner of the IPL, about possible participation of some England players in the Twenty20 tournament next spring. England want a commitment in return that Indian players will support their own Twenty20 league. Negotiations will be tense.
It would be easy for Flintoff, and other sought-after players like Kevin Pietersen, to dwell on the politics, especially when they move on to Rajkot, which Flintoff was informed yesterday was both dry and vegetarian. "If you think about things like IPL when you are going out to bat then you are going to come unstuck," he said. "It's the batting and bowling that gets you talked about in the first place. I would play in it but at the moment I don't think anyone knows where they are with it. I'm concentrating on playing against India. I don't think the uncertainty will affect the players. If it did it would be disappointing."
It has never been more important for English cricket to assert itself, to proclaim that not just its history but the ability of its players makes its central role in the game's future essential. Flintoff's unbeaten 100 came from 85 balls with three lusty straight sixes against a spin-oriented attack of good club standard. He had occasional fortune in the deep but his hairiest moment came with a scorers' recount which shaved three runs from his total.
"A hundred is a hundred, I've not had one for a while," he said. "My problems against spin have been well documented. I am going back to basics and hitting down the ground. I am trying to get lighter on my feet, playing both forward and back."
Some suspect that Indian cricket is now so powerful it just wants the shirt off your back. In the case of Flintoff the suspicion seems justified. The overriding concern for the Indian media has been whether Flintoff will repeat his riotous celebrations more than six years ago when he cavorted around the Wankhede Stadium, shirt twirling above his head, to celebrate England's 3-3 draw in the one-day series.
"I wouldn't have thought so," he said, laughing. "It depends how I go. I'll have to find some abs in the next few weeks." But when the question persisted he was obliged to insist: "I won't be taking my shirt off under any circumstances." If he sticks to that promise, he could look a bit of a berk in England's swimming-pool warm-downs.
Life was still hunky dory when he returned to Mumbai early in 2006 as an Ashes hero, sports personality of the year and the world's finest all-rounder. He led England to a drawn Test series and was named man of the series. But that summer he needed the second of four ankle operations, traumatic times followed in Australia and the World Cup and now, at 30, one senses this comeback must succeed if his career is to be entirely fulfilled.
"I have been excited about coming here," he said. "The way they have been performing against Australia suggests they are possibly the best team in the world at the moment. The big thing is to be open-minded. It's a different culture and different playing conditions and you have to embrace it and enjoy it. At the age I am now I am in a better position to do that. I remember my first experience walking out in front of nearly 100,000 at Eden Gardens. It is something to be enjoyed."
Amid all the thoughts of IPL he knows where his first loyalties lie. "You can never pull on enough England shirts," he said. Flintoff was talking about pulling on shirts even as India was obsessed with taking them off.
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