Flintoff shrugs off IPL fitness fears

England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff insisted on Sunday his lucrative involvement in the Indian Premier League will not eat away at his powers as a potential Ashes winner.

Flintoff, signed for 1.5 million dollars by the Chennai Super Kings franchise for the IPL which gets underway in South Africa on Saturday, has been dogged by injuries recently.

A hip problem kept him out of the final Test and first two one-day internationals in the West Indies.

Many in the game believe the 31-year-old should take a break before an exhausting English summer sees Test and one-day series against the West Indies and Australia with the World Twenty20 squeezed in between. LONDON, Wednesday, AFP