Morris fears more cricketers will follow Flintoff

London:

With England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff rejecting ECB's incremental offer, Professional Cricketers' Association chief Sean Morris fears that more players will follow his footstep and turn freelancer.

"I think, there will be a lot of serious discussion in Johannesburg later this month among the parties and between the parties. I can't overestimate its importance.

"I think, other players will, like Flintoff, reject contracts from their boards, not necessarily from England but from New Zealand, Sri Lanka and West Indies where the rewards are not nearly so great," Morris was quoted as saying in the 'Independent'.

Flintoff recently rejected an incremental contract from the England and Wales Cricket Board to fully focus on the one-day and Twenty20 formats.

"In the space of a few weeks we have had two leading players withdrawing from components of the international game, Andrew Flintoff from Tests and Ricky Ponting, from Twenty20 internationals," Morris said.

"If that happens then the teams they put out will not be representative. This can be overcome if windows are made for franchise Twenty20 competitions. We're only surprised that it has not been done before now and if it doesn't get done then the consequences down the line will be huge," he added.

Morris' comment came a day after Australia spin great Shane Warne and skipper Ricky Ponting voiced their concern, saying more cricketers might go Flintoff's way in future.