Flintoff faces palace dash (1 June 1999)
Lancashire will rush Andy Flintoff from Buckingham Palace to Bristol tomorrow, but will still be deprived of the services of Ian Austin and Neil Fairbrother as the incompetence of the English Cricket Board hits a new low
01-Jun-1999
1 June 1999
Flintoff faces palace dash
The Lancashire Evening Telegraph
Lancashire will rush Andy Flintoff from Buckingham Palace to Bristol
tomorrow, but will still be deprived of the services of Ian Austin
and Neil Fairbrother as the incompetence of the English Cricket Board
hits a new low.
Amazingly, England's World Cup players have been ordered to go to the
Palace to meet the Queen at an official reception rather than play
for their counties.
Lancashire have already been forced to do without Flintoff, Austin
and Fairbrother for two Championship matches because of the World
Cup, and the only silver lining on the cloud of England's shock early
exit was that they would all be back for tomorrow's game against
Gloucestershire.
Instead they learned yesterday that the players would be required for
the lunchtime reception. Lancashire are prepared to gamble on
starting the game with 10 players by including Flintoff even though
he will not arrive until after lunch, but decided that they would
have to leave Fairbrother and Austin out.
No Lancashire official was prepared to comment on the situation, but
the club is thought to be furious - especially with the team third
from bottom of the table, and desperate for points to climb into the
top half and qualify for the First Division next season.
Source :: Lancashire Evening Telegraph (https://www.reednews.co.uk/let/)