ANDREW “Freddie” Flintoff remains one of the most charismatic figures in cricket, long after his retirement from the test scene.

Even a pair of his shorts, displayed behind a glass frame in the clubhouse of Corbridge Cricket Club have attracted the admiring attention of fans of the big-hitting Lancashire all-rounder and have been used to inspire club juniors.

But now Corbridge cricketers are hoping that the fabled shorts will be joined by the ex-England captain himself, as they fight to recover from the floods which swamped the clubhouse when Storm Desmond struck in early December.

Freddie’s shorts were one of the few things to have survived the flood when the Tyne burst its banks – the water stopped just half an inch from the bottom of the frame containing them, showing that the clubhouse had been under exactly eight feet of water.

Everything else including furniture, the kitchen, and cricket equipment were contaminated and have been thrown out.

And now Freddie has been invited to come to Corbridge as guest of honour at the club’s presentation night at the Wheatsheaf Inn, which will also see the launch of a £100,000 money-raising campaign to rebuild parts of the clubhouse that have been irrevocably damaged.

Club president Chris Roberts said: “After the flood, the only piece of good news was that Freddie’s shorts remain pristine.

“We tell the children playing here that if they get stuck in, they too might become an England player.”

Freddie donated the shorts to the club eight years ago for a fund-raising event. As well as Freddie, players from Durham County Cricket Club have also been invited to the presentation night.

Playing her part in the campaign is Jenny Wilkes (21), one of the leading female cricketers at Corbridge, who composed a song about the flooding which received thousands of hits within hours of going on You Tube.