England victory could broaden boundaries for cricketers

England's success so far this summer has already created a wave of optimism about the sport's future and excited debate about whether cricket is the new football. But while Flintoff and his teammates are set to reap unprecedented financial rewards, bank balance comparisons with football's leading earners such as David Beckham are unrealistic.

The England captain and Real Madrid star has annual earnings of £17m, including £12.5m from advertising contracts, according to a survey by France Football magazine. Cricketers have always been the poor relations in the sporting pay stakes, but players such as Flintoff - who was awarded the freedom of his home town, Preston, yesterday - captain Michael Vaughan and opening batsman Marcus Trescothick are estimated to earn about £400,000 a year with their central contracts with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

If they win back the Ashes in the decisive fifth Test, which begins on Thursday, each player will also benefit from a £60,000 win bonus. Nigel Currie, director of the GEM Group, a sports marketing agency, said: "They have raised their marketability by a huge amount - and if they do win the Ashes Flintoff, Vaughan and [Kevin] Pietersen will do extremely well out of it. Flintoff has an absolutely unique opportunity to do incredibly well. He has got all the attributes. He is a boy's own hero, he bats, bowls, catches well and is popular with the kids.

"A huge part of marketing is being the right type of role model. Those pictures of him commiserating with Brett Lee [who had just failed to win the second Test for Australia] at Edgbaston would have done marvels for him. The marketeers like to see that spirit - it makes him a more attractive figure than a footballer like Wayne Rooney whose image is of swearing."

The view is shared by Mark Knight, an account manager with the Redmandarin sponsorship consultancy. "One of the concerns of any sport is what will happen down the line, with problems like drinks or drugs. They are looking for someone cleancut, and at face value Flintoff seems a good bankable bet, even though you are talking a far smaller scale than Beckham."

Mr Currie estimated Flintoff's off-pitch earning potential at between £1m and £1.5m, but that is dwarfed by the endorsements for footballing superstars such as Beckham, who will lead out England's lucratively rewarded team at the Millennium Stadium this afternoon for the World Cup qualifier against Wales. The Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard is estimated to receive an annual wage of £5.2m, but his advertising endorsements are said to be limited to an additional £1.2m. Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard is thought to earn a similar amount, while Rooney is thought to be on £50,000 a week.

International cricketers' earnings are more in line with the riches earned by rugby stars such as Jonny Wilkinson after England's world cup victory in 2003.

Flintoff has the potential to be the biggest star in the game since Denis Compton slicked down his hair in 1950 and became for ever known as the Brylcreem Boy, or Ian "Beefy" Botham, whose marketability has survived his retirement.

For one company the benefits of being associated with Flintoff's success are tangible. The player's reported £250,000 sponsorship deal with Woodworm, a tiny cricket equipment firm based in Billingshurst, West Sussex, which employs just five people, is expected to lead to orders for 10,000 bats over the next year.

The company was founded three years ago by Joe Sillett after his father found an old cricket bat in the garage, riddled with woodworm, and repaired it by cutting away the edges. Mr Sillett took it to a match and scored 142 not out.

For two years Flintoff played with a version of that bat, the Wand, but for last week's Trent Bridge Test, he played with a new custom-built bat, the Flame, which he had helped design. "It has thick, chunky edges, a curved, bowed blade and lots of swell," said Mr Sillett. "He has seen a million and one bats and is accustomed to what suits him. Andrew can't believe he has taken out a new bat and got a hundred."

The innings helped win the match for England and the man of the match award for Flintoff. Now Mr Sillett expects orders for 10,000 Flame bats when they go on sale in October. Woodworm also makes bats for Pietersen. Mr Sillett said: "We have got two very high-profile guys under the same roof and the marketing dynamic is very strong."

Neil Fairbrother, a former England international, who represents Flintoff through his International Sports Management company, is cautious. "There is great interest in cricket in general and in the players as well. It is a massive week and hopefully England will get the right result. Then we can see how things might go."

Football's net gain in sponsor stakes

Andrew Flintoff
Nickname Freddie
Born: December 6 1977, Preston
Family: Married to Rachel, marketing executive, daughter Holly, born September 2004
Home: Over Tabley, Cheshire
Debut: 1995 for Lancashire
Career: 51 Test matches and 90 one day internationals
Salary: ECB contract estimated at £400,000
Sponsorship earning potential: Up to £1.5m
Sponsors: Barclays Capital, The Sun, Volkswagen, Red Bull, Thwaites, Woodworm