Michael Lumb to join Queensland Bulls for Australia's Twenty20 Big Bash

Michael Lumb, who shot to prominence as part of England's World Twenty20 winning team in the Caribbean earlier this year, only to falter just as quickly, will join Queensland Bulls for Australia's Twenty20 Big Bash in January. Lumb replaces Andrew Flintoff, whose ambitions to revive his career with Queensland's Twenty20 squad failed when he had to retire because of a long-standing knee injury. Trevor Barsby, coach of the Bulls, said: "When we learned that Andrew Flintoff was not going to take up his contract with us, we looked at a few players who would bring something special to our group. Michael was pretty much at the top of that list as far as I was concerned." Lumb's international career blossomed after he was a surprise pick for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL last season, but Rajasthan have since been barred from IPL4 next year for allegedly breaking ownership regulations, leaving Lumb without an IPL team. He also had a disastrous summer with Hampshire, losing form at the start of the season and then seeing his hopes of an England T20 return, and a place in Hampshire's side for the Friends Provident T20 final at the Rose Bowl, dashed when his foot was broken while fielding at silly point by a blow from Somerset's batsman Craig Kieswetter, who had been his opening partner in England's victorious T20 campaign only a few months earlier. Queensland will release Lumb briefly from his T20 contract if he is chosen by England for their two T20 internationals against Australia on 12 and 14 January.