Andrew Flintoff frustrated by Ashes experience

Going down (under): England were whitewashed 5-0 in the 2006/7 Ashes series in Australia
10 April 2012

Andrew Flintoff still regrets the massive isolation he felt as captain of whitewashed England on a shambolic Ashes tour which turned into a "booze cruise".

England's former Test all-rounder also gives his own account of his infamous, drunken encounter with a pedalo in the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean which followed in the same winter as his ill-starred attempt to retain the Ashes gloriously won in 2005.

In his updated autobiography 'Ashes to Ashes', serialised in the Daily Mail today, he speaks candidly too of his unworkable relationship with coach Duncan Fletcher - who helped England regain the Ashes for the first time in a generation, only to fail so obviously to keep the urn 18 months later and then end up disciplining Flintoff after his pedalo misjudgment.

Thirty-one-year-old Flintoff, who retired from Test cricket after England regained the Ashes from Australia at the Oval last month and has since undergone surgery on his chronic knee injury, reflects on a career of notable highs and lows, few more uncomfortable than the tour down under in 2006/07.

"I was the captain of a team heading for a 5-0 Ashes whitewash," he remembers, having taken the job on because of Michael Vaughan's own absence through injury.

"Relationships were becoming strained, which I suppose is only natural given the situation we were in - but the most upsetting thing for me was how few people offered to help.

"Steve Harmison, my good friend, was great - and I knew I could rely on him - but a bit of extra support would have been nice.

"I felt massively isolated.

"The problems had really started when we were defeated in Adelaide to go 2-0 down. I was in a bit of a muddle and didn't really know how to get out of it."

His frustrations came to a head after the Ashes were gone - and as well as resorting to alcohol, Flintoff admits at one point taking his anger out on his own cricket equipment.

"My head had gone, probably with what had happened in the Ashes. The frustration was bubbling inside of me. I exploded," he writes.

"My bat was leaning against the bench in the dressing room, and I put my foot through it and broke it - not the most intelligent thing to do."

Flintoff's next mistake was to head for the bar - much to Fletcher's annoyance.

"The upshot was I turned up for nets the next day not in the best of shape, although I wouldn't say I was as bad as coach Duncan Fletcher has said I was," he adds.

"I'm not going to try to make excuses because I know I shouldn't have arrived for training smelling of booze. It was unprofessional but it was indicative of my state of mind at the time.

"I wasn't the only one, I hasten to add, and it wasn't just the players - most of the support staff were at it more than we were. It was like being on a booze cruise."

England's next assignment that winter was a World Cup campaign in the West Indies - and it was there, after defeat in a group match, that he drunkenly succumbed to the unusual temptation of a pedalo.

Retracing his steps that night, he takes issue with reports he was rescued from the sea - insisting he never got that far.

"Not long after I arrived at the club, I realised I'd had enough to drink and slipped out - intending to walk back to the hotel," he explains.

"Instead of walking down the road, I decided it would be nicer down the beach and come into the hotel from the back. A row of kayaks caught my eye, but none of them had any oars.

"Next to them were some pedalos, and I remember dragging one to the edge of the water - presumably because I fancied a ride. But for the life of me, I couldn't work out how to get on it - or my legs into it - so I let go of it, and it quickly drifted away from the shore.

"I think I slipped and fell over in a few inches of water, but nothing more."

As for his dealings with Fletcher, Flintoff depicts two very different personalities with almost no common ground forced to work together.

"As far as Duncan and I are concerned, it was a case of two people who didn't get on being thrown together for eight months of the year as part of the England cricket team," he recalls.

"We had completely different views on life; the relationship didn't work and it came to an abrupt end after the World Cup ..."

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