Well this is what I believe Ian Botham said on Sky, over the Flintoff affair.

Well no one says the players are drinking all the time, commentators have stressed drinking was not a problem during the Ashes (2006).
I have seen a lot of indignant remarks thrown Flintoff's way, but is Ian Botham right - he got caught when other might not have done so.

Does anyone believe one night on the pop would make any difference to Englands world Cup chances? - if so why?

Flintoff made himself very visible mucking about on a pedalo, after leaving the party early - I believe he was alone.

Other England players were on the pop, I see Bell, Plunkett and Anderson are playing against Canada today, while Flintoff has had the book thrown at him.

Flintoff looked a disgrace in the Victory parade, but the England management allowed that - that was wrong, they set a tone.

So even England managers were out on the pop, according to the TV or radio, but have yet to be named.

Is Botham right? - was Flintoff's biggest crime getting caught.

As I type Englands bowlers have been clobbered for sixes - without Flintoff bowling, also the batting was SLOW, no thought to run rate.

So did Flintoff floundering in a padelo really affect England World Cup chances, along with Bell - Anderson - Lewis, and Plunkett?.

I don't think it made a scrap of difference.

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Ern

All I can recall is when Symonds got on the bottle and turned up to practice still with a hangover - result, Dropped from the next game - Result, Australia lost the game.

An interesting thought.
Of course, from Botham, ANY criticism of Freddie's antics would be totally hypocritical, given what he's got up to in the past. His antics make Freddie's look like schoolboy errors!

There is the argument that they are away a long time, and need to cool off. Fair enough, but when you're in the middle of the group stages, having just lost your first game, you don't go out and do what Flintoff's done.

Yes, there were other players with him, but to go out to sea when you've been drinking for hours is foolish.
Plus, it's allegedly his third or fourth official warning, so it's not the first time.
When you represent your country in sport, you do have to behave with a little more thought.

Letting your hair down is one thing, behaving irresponsibly is another.
It's not a big thing, and in the light of what else has happened today, it pales into insignificance, but you've got to let the buck stop somewhere. The England management have handled this perfectly acceptably, and, arguably, Bopara has provided more with the bat then Freddie has done for a while...

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Mae hen wlad fy nhadau yn annwyl i mi

No, I don't think Botham is right - I am in the Nasser Hussain camp. Flintoff is a senior member of the team and he has a responsibility to lead his men appropriately. He didn't, and punishment was inevitable. We can argue over the degree of punishment, but the principle, in my view, is beyond argument. He was the senior man involved and he has to carry the can. The lads who were with him have also been punished, so it's not fair to suggest that Flintoff was singled out in that regard: his punishment might have been more severe because more was expected of him due to his seniority and influence within the camp.

Crime was getting caught? Nonsense: that is never the case. The crime is the crime, and, to use another tired cliche, if you can't do the time, don't do the crime.

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Money won't buy you friends. But it gets you a better class of enemy.
Spike Milligan

I'd be interested to know what level of binge drinking is routine for Roger Federer and Tiger Woods, or how commonly the pair of them are to be found out and about at 4.00am in the midst of major tournaments. My suspicion is that like most top atheletes, they NEVER binge drink and demonstrate great discipline in terms of sleep patterns. I'm pretty sure a survey of all the 100m runners competing in the last World Championship, or all of the swimmers at the last Olympics, would have revealed much the same thing.

Is it too much to expect the same level of professionalism from cricketers?

Michael Vaughan seems to have no difficulty in setting a good example, and as vice captain, Flintoff needed to do the same... but Freddie's casual attitude to the behind-the-scenes aspects of captaincy seems to extend to being professional about preparation for matches - which ain't really on.

Losing the vice-captaincy for the World Cup strikes me as an inevitable consequence of the incident in question. Sadly for Flintoff, this looks likely to be a fairly long-term demotion... and just as Warne missed out on captaining Australia for his laddish, off-field behaviour, Flintoff can now expect to be passed over if the captaincy issue is revisited over the next couple of years.

I trust the message will get through and that the big fella will mend his ways... and wonder if the real outfall of the incident is yet to be seen: the players and backroom staff who have behaved less than brilliantly must now fear that they have the duration of this tournament to redeem themselves and have seriously damaged their chances of being selected for the home fixtures this summer and for next-winter's tours.

The selectors and coach are old enough and wise enough to recall just how ungovernable the England side became in the 1980s: I'd expect any further signs of backsliding to be dealt with far, far more ruthlessly!

The are more ways than drinking to upset a side, do you think it was right for Vaughan to stalk the England side during the Ashes, I would say that was far more damaging to England than Flintoff mucking about in a pedalo.

Also Flintoff was back in the hotel when the other were still drinking, so it would appear that Flintoffs ONLY crime was using a pedalo - he left the drinking early.

Two things here - Flintoff should have been punished after the World Cup, looking at todays game, the bowling without his was awfull.
England first duty was to win the World cup if possible, not throw the book at Flintoff was playing in a pedalo - I think Flintoff has given the ECB the chance to remove him they have been seeking.

I would say taking the vice captaincy of Flintoff is nothing less than cruel.

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Ern

Please Ern, don't try and defend Flintoff this time. He's been caught red handed behaving shamelessly before a crunch game against Canada. This is awful behaviour. I wouldn't even expect this of England's loutish football team during a World Cup. Not to mention the dreadful risk of death with the combination of sea and alcohol. The fact he was Vice Captain is even worse - he's set a dreadful example to his own players; including one Liam Plunkett who's already had more run-ins involving alcohol than a 21-year-old sporting professional should have had. Flintoff has got a punishment that befits the crime. He's been stripped of the captaincy and been suspended for one game. Frankly, Bopara has come in and played damn well - 30 off as many balls and two wickets.

That said, it should be the end of the matter. He's done the punishment and now he should get back to playing - as long as he can now behave properly. Hopefully, he'll come back in for the Kenya game chomping at the bit to make up for this

I really don't care WHAT Flintoff did at 4.00am in the morning.... the point is surely that by 4.00am he ought to have 6 hours of sleep under his belt and two hours to go before getting up (bright eyed, not nursing a hangover) and continuing preparations for the next game.

If Flintoff delivers the goods on the field than it all be forgotten.
The worrying thing it may indicate England have lost their focus. It may be what pulled them together in 2005, that they had a lot to prove is no longer there. This leaves the English press looking for someone to blame so Flintoff has transgressed and takes the flack not only for breaking the rules but also Englands loss of direction.

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"Checkout the big brain on Brett" Pulp Fiction

Flintoff's crime was being a plank,not getting caught.