Unless amnesty is declared between Andrew Flintoff and the England and Wales Cricket Board, it is unlikely that Flintoff will ever captain his country again. That will be one result of the revelations in a new book by Duncan Fletcher that the all-rounder's drinking on the Ashes tour to Australia last winter was out of control.Double act: Duncan Fletcher and Andrew Flintoff in happier times Fletcher, England's coach until last April, famously stripped Flintoff of the vice-captaincy following late-night drinking in St Lucia during the World Cup. But in his book Behind The Shades, due to be published on Nov 5, Fletcher reveals that Flintoff, the acting captain in Australia, was so hung-over from a drinking binge in Sydney in February that the team practice before a crucial one-day international against Australia had to be cut short.Ironically, England went on to win that game in the Commonwealth Bank series, the first in a four-match winning sequence under Flintoff that saw them unexpectedly lift the trophy.It seems that the incident, on what was a vexing and unhappy tour for him after the team's 5-0 pummelling in the Ashes, was not a one-off either. In an interview with a national newspaper, who have bought the serialisation rights for the book, Fletcher teasingly refers to "other things that I could have put in that would really have hurt people".
Drinking and cricket have long been easy bedfellows – too easy some would say. But what was tolerated in Ian Botham's pomp, where night-long sessions on cheap brandy in India were followed by swashbuckling centuries the next day, just does not wash now.Lucrative television and sponsorship deals have demanded new levels of behaviour from players, which is probably why Giles Clarke, the new ECB chairman, has insisted on a strict new code of behaviour.An iconoclast, Clarke has stated that all disciplinary matters, usually the remit of the coach until the Schofield Report spread the responsibility to include the ECB's new managing director of cricket, Hugh Morris, will now be taken very seriously indeed."Today's international stars can find fame and fortune playing for England," said Clarke during his induction speech last month. "But with that comes responsibility and accountability." That tough stance certainly does not bode well for any captaincy ambitions Flintoff may still harbour.Flintoff, who denies he has a drink problem, has distanced himself from any further revelations the book might have in store. Following a third operation on his troublesome left ankle last month he is spending seven weeks in the United States – a trip that is part holiday, part rehab.So far, any retort from the players' perspective has come from his best friend and team-mate Stephen Harmison, another target in Fletcher's cross-hairs.
"It's disappointing for these comments to be made," Harmison said yesterday. "Fred tried his heart out and could not have done more for the cause in Australia. But in this cruel world there is always someone who wants to knock and have a go and I find that sad."We must focus on the 2009 Ashes and not hark back to what happened 12 months ago, and that is especially true of Fred. He has got a massive amount to do to get back to the player he once was and the last thing he needs is to have to deal in ancient history."While many will dismiss Fletcher's criticisms of Flintoff as the revenge of an embittered man, the coach must also share in the blame. As the most powerful man in English cricket as well as the most mistrustful (his fellow selectors only found out about Flintoff's drinking escapades weeks later), he should have come down on Flintoff hard when he first erred.He certainly had the power to do so, but not it seems, the courage. As the book will reveal, his decision to do nothing was not based on giving Flintoff a second chance (or even a third one by then), but to deny the press, most of whom he loathed, a story.That reveals a man with a weaker will and worse judgment than Flintoff showed when drowning his sorrows in the first place.
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