The first step in Andrew Flintoff's currently hypothetical plan to play Australian club cricket in preparation for the Ashes has been cleared with Cricket Australia saying there are no rules to prevent the move. David Graveney, the England chairman of selectors, "mischievously" suggested the scenario in a bid to help Flintoff recover from ankle surgery that is expected to rule him out for the next three months.

The upshot of the injury is Flintoff would have minimal match practice before England's defence of the Ashes starting on November 23, and team management is considering more lead-up games as well as the club option. Three state associations - Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia - would not stop Flintoff or any other returning England player from appearing in their grade competitions.

"Having Flintoff and those blokes play would certainly give club-land a massive boost," Graham Dixon, the Queensland Cricket chief executive, said in The Courier-Mail. "It would toughen up the competition and give grade players exposure against the best in the world."

While many Australian supporters would feel the situation unbelievable despite the English county system assisting their players for decades, David Gilbert warned against critics getting "too precious". "At the end of the day we are in the entertainment business and people have paid good money to see the best players," he said.

A Cricket Australia spokesman told AAP the situation was still hypothetical. "We haven't been approached and it's an area that would be looked at by the state associations," he told the agency. "There are no statutes that we are aware of that would prevent it from being possible." Craig White, the former England allrounder, used the Adelaide grade competition to warm-up for the 2002-03 Ashes.