Agreed with cameras on mobile phones - no-one can get away with anything, seems a tad harsh though.

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Ern

So the reports in a Sunday paper are that Flintoff fell off a pedalo at 4am and had to be rescued from the sea.If it is true he should sent home in disgrace and told he will never captain his country again.If not true i hope he sues the pants off the paper.

On the face of it, that's more serious than having a few jars in a night club. But if it's true, what happened to the concept of teamwork? In a real team no-one would allow one of his mates to put himself in danger. Real mates are the ones who say "Come on, squire: you've had enough" and help the chap to the safety of his bed. If England's players haven't even got this aspect of life sorted out they are worse than the rawest recruits to the armed forces or the youngest of first year university students. If this is true, there is no team out in the Caribbean from England, just eleven individuals. And eleven individuals have no chance of winning any team game. Worrying stuff if this report is true.

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

Maybe the "real mates" were too busy sorting themselves out to pay much attention to the Squire . C'mon, give them a break. OK, maybe they had one or three too many, but that's not a crime. They could have slept late yesterday to get over the hangover and come to the nets in the afternoon completely refreshed. There is a greater liklihood of the younger players being under pressure because of all this public humiliation rather than that extra pint of Carling.

This is being reported on the radio and here.

It's two separate points, though, Nostromo: I have no objection at all to the idea of guys doing a hard day's work and then going out to have a few drinks afterwards. I don't even mind if they have one or three too many: I've certainly done that before and young men will still be doing it in many parts of the world for centuries after I cash in my chips. My concern is that a functioning team should be looking after all its members: if one of them puts himself in a dangerous position, someone else in the team should be helping him. Let's assume only for the sake of argument that it wasn't Fred going to sea on a pedalo at 4am, but you stepping off the kerb in Oxford in front of a bus. You would probably hope that your mate would pull you back on to the kerb, wouldn't you? If there is truth in these reports this morning, Freddie's mates have let him down. And they have thereby let the team down and themselves.

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

OK Occasional Fan, agreed. Frankly, I initially thought that the story involving Flintoff was someone's fertile imagination to add fuel to the fire. It now looks like it might be true after all. Now that misadventure is certainly a bit more serious than getting ********** in a nightclub. As a Scuba Diver, I know that it can be dangerous falling into the sea and if Flintoff was drunk at the time, the consequences could have been very serious. England do have a history of aquatic accidents in the Caribbean, as with another Freddie - Titmus - back in 1968.

Well, let's hope that tomorrow England are back on the back pages instead of the front, with a victory over Canada today.

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

Hopefully these incidents are the kick up the a**e that England needs! The players have to realise that the are not in the carribean for a jolly but to play in and win cricket matches.

Regarding Flintoff, I agree win OF his so called "mates" should have stopped that happening ( I cant believe he was out on his own). What if the worst had happened - they would have that on their consience for a long time. Anyway I cant see anything wrong with going out and partying, provided you have actually won a match.

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Mark.

This sort of behavior has gone on for eons.

Remember Botham, and was it Gatting with his hotel parties.

The fact is that theseYOUNG people are human beings, and most of the England squad have been away from home since Autumn, they can't do things that normal people can do - these incidents are bound to occur.

I find it astonishing that Flintoff - or any other England player would be out on the sea in a "Pedalo" at 4am, and if he was - how on Earth would he get into trouble doing that.

They have been fined and that's enough IMO - look at what some teams let their players get away with.

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Ern