This is plainly NOT fair!!!!

[Quagmire]

Vaughan blames Flintoff for World Cup.

Reading this article on he cricinfo web site and it seems like Flintoff has been whipped by the good skipper.

http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/engl...ry/296939.html

Now what I have been thinking is it inappropriate for Vaughan to blame Flintoff and single him out like he seemingly has in disgusting, secondly if Flintoff came out and said they didn’t do well in the World Cup because Vaughan was hopeless with the bat, what sort of repercussions would come on him.

Vaughan - 209 runs at 23.22, Hs 79

Flintoff did worse with the bat but at least he was successful with the ball.

I just can't believe a captain could openly blame a member of his team.

Right, wrong or indifferent it should never come down to a player being blamed by a team mate especially a team make. Shame on Vaughan.

What's everyones opinion?

[Wanderer]

I have heard of captains blaming batsmen...or bowlers or poor fielding. But never as I recall, I captain blaming one specific player for "destroying a team's morale" so much so that the whole team underperforms.

Interestingly, it was 6 members who went on that night out...But only the pedalo incident seems to be the big issue. But "Flintoff wrecked the WC"? That's a bit over the top I think.

What's going to happen when he returns to the squad now?

[greg]

Originally Posted by Wanderer

What's going to happen when he returns to the squad now?

Will he return though?

If he can't bowl he won't get in,maybe they know something so it is all coming out now.

[Wanderer]

Well Greg, if that is the case then all I can say is Flintoff is getting "Klusenerised".

[Rachael]

Vaughan is saying exactly what he has to say as a captain: recognising the fact is what makes HIM a good captain... and if education is part of recognising this then perhaps that's why guys like Vaughan and Strauss get talked up as captains and folk like Flintoff do not.

Vaughan is NOT saying blaming Flintoff's escapade for the World Cup flop... check what he says rather than just reading the headline:

We went into the New Zealand game with a really good attitude but we didn't play well and after 'Fredalo' we just started taking it all too seriously

First up, he's admitting that they didn't play well even BEFORE the incident.

Second up, he's acknowledging that the players (not just Flintoff) started taking it all too seriously.

Vaughan's not one to shirk his responsibility as captain: he knows it was up to him to set the tone. As he's says "even on the field you have to be pretty free, especially in one-day cricket". He openly admits this:

didn't captain as well as I should've done because of the pressure I put myself under. I'd admit that. But I couldn't switch off because away from the field there was so much going on

Vaughan is brutally honest in the sources of the pressure.. but what else could he say? He, like Nasser Hussain, has made a big thing about players taking personal responsibility... and when noting the obvious, that "incidents happened which affected the team" he can hardly avoid saying "You have to be honest, the 'Fredalo' incident did affect the team. It did affect morale".

Note: he does NOT single that out as the reason the team struggled... he is quite clear that as captain you have to accept that, to coin a phrase, "**** happens". He knows that when it does, the captain has to pick the team up and re-build team spirit... and the ONLY moment in the piece where he makes an excuse is where he says that, one way or another, they ended in a situation in which "no one would dare go out".

Sure... Freddie's failure to take personal responsibility comes out as part of the picture... but Vaughan is not "blaming" Flintoff: he's very, very careful to refer to "Fredalo"... to the entire shambles, encapsulated in that one image but involving half a dozen players getting drunk, support staff doing nothing about it, newspapers getting the story and plastering it all over the front pages and so on.

[Teatime FatCat]

I think it's a bit of b*ll*x actually. Whatever interpretation you may have put on it Rach, it's poorly said, and smacks of excuses as to our dismal World Cup.

It feels like a cover up for the real reasons of - poor ODI form, poor ODI coaching, poor ODI squad.

To say that player's form was affected by the fact that they were afraid to have an evening out is utterly ridiculous.

[Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Rachael

Vaughan is NOT saying blaming Flintoff's escapade for the World Cup flop

No. That is EXACTLY what Vaughan is saying... What else does he mean by the "fredalo incident"....Who else was involved BUT Flintoff? The answer is obvious enough. He may not say "I blame Freddie", but that is certainly the implication.

Anyhow, things may be a little "tense" when Freddie returns. If he returns.

[flanflinger]

I find myself agreeing with Rachael on this one. The headline says a lot more than the story does. When I looked at the headline, I was shocked, but when I read the story, I felt the story and the headline did not match up.

I think Vaughan is stating that the whole "Freadalo" incident had a negative effect on the team. I don't think he singles out Fred, or makes him a scape goat (which the headline does) for me it is about recognising the negative effect of the much publicised incident on the team. That the team were unable to relax, because they felt restricted.

Those incidents are bound to affect team spirit. Suddenly you've got players who have no freedom left. I like to see players enjoy themselves but no one would dare go out after that incident - and you can't create any spirit then.

That incident changed the whole atmosphere in the camp. We went into the New Zealand game with a really good attitude but we didn't play well and after 'Fredalo' we just started taking it all too seriously. That might sound silly but everyone was too tense and desperate. There was no escape - and even on the field you have to be pretty free, especially in one-day cricket.

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/cricket/...095444,00.html

Maybe Andrew Flintoff should be saying the same thing. I'm hoping he is because we're certainly a better team with him. I haven't spoken to him since his operation but I've been texting him. I've come back from knee injuries and he's come back from ankle injuries so he can certainly do it again.

Newspapers have a habit of making a story out of nothing, and I think we have all been drawn into the media's game...

[Wanderer]

Originally Posted by flanflinger

Newspapers have a habit of making a story out of nothing, and I think we have all been drawn into the media's game...

Now THAT is something I can agree on.

With regards to Vaughan. If he did not want his meaning to be misconstrued, then perhaps he should have chosen his words more carefully then.

[flanflinger]

Originally Posted by Wanderer

If he did not want his meaning to be misconstrued, then perhaps he should have chosen his words more carefully then.

The problem with the media is they report what they want and exclude what they don't want. Michael Vaughan could have spent twenty minutes talking about Fred in a good light, then spent a minute on the Fredalo incident, but all we get is the controversial headline maker!!

But maybe he should have stayed off this particular subject, maybe he was naive.