Flintoff to help coach UAE during Dubai rehab

Published on Friday 18 September 2009 22:46

ANDREW Flintoff will help coach the United Arab Emirates national team during his rehabilitation from knee surgery, the all-rounder's agent has confirmed.

Andrew Chandler revealed the 31-year-old will base his recovery programme at the Dubai Sports City complex, and will use his time away from the treatment room to help with the development of the country's leading cricketers.

The deal will see Flintoff assisting the team on a casual basis and does not represent a formal arrangement.

"A partnership has been agreed with Dubai Sports City to use their gym and facilities as a base for his rehabilitation," Chandler told The National.

"I believe he will be one of the first people to use them. In return he will carry out some coaching for the UAE national team over the next six months."

Flintoff retired from Test cricket after the Ashes victory over Australia last month. He had surgery on a troublesome knee problem three weeks ago and last week moved to Dubai, where he hopes to open a cricket academy once a suitable site is found.

"There has been good growth in UAE cricket in the last few years and Andrew felt that he wanted to give something back," Chandler said.

"His partnership with Sports City will also help raise the profile of his Dubai academy."

He added: "His children have already started at a local school. He has rented a temporary apartment near the Marina but will be looking for something more permanent over the next few weeks."

Flintoff last week snubbed an incremental contract offer from the England and Wales Cricket Board, but Chandler insists his client remains committed to the national side in the shorter forms of the game.

"He has turned down an England contract but this won't make much difference as he has said he will make himself available for one-day games," he said. "He is aiming to play a role in the one-day leg of the Bangladesh tour.

"He remains committed to Lancashire and in addition to the IPL, he has been offered contracts for T20 tournaments elsewhere in the world."

Meanwhile, James Anderson wants England to start afresh against Australia at Durham tomorrow and banish thoughts of becoming the first side in history to lose a one-day international series 7-0.

After the elation of Ashes success, England's limited-overs squad has been blown away by Australia in six successive NatWest Series outings.

Thursday saw their most humbling defeat yet, a 111-run thrashing as the hosts capitulated for 185 on what appeared to be a decent batting track.

But Lancashire seamer Anderson, who marked his return to the line-up with four wickets at Trent Bridge following a two-match rest, has called for the side to treat the game as a one-off warm-up for next week's Champions Trophy rather than focus on recent results.

"Obviously we don't want to lose 7-0. There'll be a lot of pride to play for on Sunday. We're very disappointed with the way we've played in this series, we've never really clicked as a team," he said.

"But we've got the Champions Trophy to look forward to now as a fresh start. We need to use this as a warm-up game for that.

"We have to try and forget as much as possible that we're 6-0 down and make sure we put in the performances we're capable of."

Despite England looking second best with both bat and ball, as well as in the field, Anderson believes the margins between the teams are relatively small.

"The vast majority of us in the dressing room still believe we can beat Australia, and we think that 6-0 probably flatters them a bit," he said.

"We know that we've not yet played anywhere near the standard that we're capable of."

Anderson also addressed the increasingly concerning problem of running between the wickets in the England camp.

Owais Shah has been subject to plenty of criticism for some indecisive calling during the series, while both Ravi Bopara and Matt Prior were run out by Ricky Ponting in Nottingham.

Anderson admits it is an unacceptable problem for a major international team. "You'd think that after playing cricket for most of our lives, we'd be able to do that, it's not the most difficult of skills," he conceded.

"Throughout the series, it seems as though we've tried to make it look as complicated as possible. I don't know why. It's not really something you can practice, it's just something you ought to be able to do when you've played a lot of cricket.

"I suppose when the confidence is low as a batting team, it affects everything, not just your shot selection. To be a good one-day side, you've got to be good at running between the wickets, and we need to improve."