Cricinfo - Flintoff admits he is 'embarrassed and ashamed'

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Allrounder faces the media

Flintoff admits he is 'embarrassed and ashamed'

Cricinfo staff

March 19, 2007

Duncan Fletcher looks on as Andrew Flintoff faces the media in St Lucia © Getty Images

Andrew Flintoff faced the media in St Lucia today, a day after he was dropped and stripped of the vice-captaincy following a late-night drinking session which ended with him being fished out of the sea in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Flintoff, flanked by Duncan Fletcher, admitted that he was "embarrassed and ashamed" by his behaviour, although he was reluctant to go into details.

"I had a few drinks on Friday. There has been maybe a bit of poetic licence but I'm not denying it happened," he said. "It's something which I don't want to go into in too great a detail but something I am not very pleased about.

"I have apologised and I want to redeem myself and pay back the faith people have shown me in the last few years and the only way I can do that is to go out there and perform with bat and ball. I want to get back in the nets, have a bat and a bowl and get back on the field and hopefully that can be the first steps in redeeming myself.

The night out was widely covered by the British media © The Mirror

"Probably for me the stakes have gone up a bit more. I desperately want to perform. I feel I have something I have to give back to the team. I have to make sure nothing like this happens off the pitch again.

"It's something I am not proud of and it should not have happened and I've suffered the consequences," he continued. "The feeling of being left out for those reasons is something I am upset about and something I never want to repeat.

"I have missed games through injury but to miss it through this... I was upset, embarrassed and ashamed of what I did.

"It was a horrible feeling. I enjoy playing cricket for England and I want to continue to do that. Not being able to play for reasons such as these is something I cannot describe in words."