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Flintoff may have to pay if he injures knee |
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| Andrew Flintoff |
Andrew Flintoff may be forced to pay for his own recovery should he re-injure his knee during the Indian Premier League, under a law that pre-existing injuries are to be covered by national boards.
He initially injured his right knee playing for Chennai in the IPL in April and was covered not by the Super Kings but by the England and Wales Cricket Board.
That now places the all-rounder in a precarious position. He is undergoing further recovery from knee surgery, which has been paid for by the ECB, but by rejecting their incremental contract he has given up that safety net for the lucrative Twenty20 league.
The development comes amid bizarre reasoning by his manager, Andrew Chandler, that the ECB contract was rejected because Flintoff might have to go ''bungee-jumping''.
With Flintoff's troubled injury history and the unproven results of his radical treatment in Dubai, any further damage to his knee could be career-threatening, and he may be forced to pay for his own treatment.
The Super Kings pay him $US1.55 million ($A1.78 million) a season and expressed sympathy with Flintoff's plight, saying they may pay for rehabilitation depending on the circumstances, but did not guarantee it. ''There is a rule that says if it is a pre-existing injury than the IPL team is not liable,'' Chennai's manager of cricket, V.B. Chandrasekhar, said.
Under the IPL regulation, all players must declare previous injuries, but Chennai is fully aware of the well-publicised knee problem that kept Flintoff out of the fourth Ashes Test.
Chandler said the incremental contract that was rejected on Tuesday contained unsatisfactory regulations against daredevil sports.
TheAge |
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