KENT'S one-day cricket captain Matthew Fleming has revealed that he is hoping to become a Conservative MP.

The 37-year-old England all-rounder has decided to hang up his bowling boots at the end of this season and has applied to Conservative Central Office to become a prospective parliamentary candidate.

Fleming, an old Etonian and former Royal Green Jackets officer, will also be standing down from his post as chairman of the Professional Cricketers’ Association.

He said: "I’d lie if I said that politics is something I’ve always hankered after doing, but playing cricket for 15 years doesn’t actually qualify you for anything else later in life.

"I’ve been lucky enough to be paid for doing what I love and I’m now in a position where I feel it’s time for me to put something back. Whatever I do next I want to make a difference and politics is a fairly obvious and challenging way to do it. It may well be that the Conservative Party don’t consider me suitable or good enough, but at least I will have tried."