'Ashes whitewash put Freddie in spotlight'

Updated 16.33 Thu Nov 01 2007

Keywords: Australia, Ashes, Duncan Fletcher, England, Matthew Hoggard, Andrew Flintoff, cricket, sport

Andrew Flintoff's drinking in Australia would not have mattered had England not suffered a first Ashes whitewash in 84 years.

That is the view of bowler Matthew Hoggard in the wake of former coach Duncan Fletcher's comments about the talismanic all-rounder in his forthcoming autobiography.

"When you're winning, people don't care about the negatives. When you go down 5-0, it's different" - Matthew Hoggard

Fletcher claimed Flintoff turned up for a training session under the influence of alcohol, well before the infamous 'Fredalo' incident in the subsequent World Cup.

But Hoggard has insisted that Flintoff and the rest of the England squad behaved no differently Down Under last winter than they did during their feted tour of the West Indies in 2004.

He said: "When you're winning, people don't care about the negatives. When you go down 5-0, it's different.

"If we had won the crucial second Test in Adelaide and perhaps lost the series 3-2, all this would have blown over by now.

Hoggard added: "I'm sure Freddie did things last winter that he was not proud of and that were not wise in the circumstances, and Fletcher has every right to say what he wants in the book.

"But I just want to concentrate on the future because I don't like to dwell on negatives in the past.

"I wouldn't say that what went on off the field in Australia - while I was there at least - was any different from what happened in the West Indies in 2004, when we clinched the Test series 3-0."

Fletcher, meanwhile, has hit out at English cricket bosses for organising an independent review into England's 5-0 Ashes thrashing last winter without notifying him.

He has claimed that the formation of a panel after the humiliation in Australia was "the lowest point of my cricketing career".

Flintoff has been blighted by a catalogue of injury setbacks since inspiring England to their first Ashes victory over Australia in 18 years in 2005.

And England Test captain Michael Vaughan believes the injury-plagued all-rounder is in the "last chance saloon" as far as his international career is concerned after undergoing a fourth ankle operation.

Vaughan, who hopes Flintoff will make a full recovery, said: "I just want to see him back playing.

"I know he's going through a tough period. He's over in America in rehab for his ankle.

"I think it's his fourth ankle operation. It's his 'last chance saloon' and we should all get behind him and give him every opportunity to try and come back."