Print

Mail

wiki links

Vaughan interview excerpt posted on Web

England cricket captain Michael Vaughan is pictured during a team training session at Old Trafford, Manchester, England, on Wednesday. PHOTO: AFP

The newspaper England captain Michael Vaughan accused of misquoting him placed an audio excerpt of its interview with Vaughan on the Internet yesterday, contradicting the cricketer's assertion that his remarks about a teammate were blown out of proportion.

Although Vaughan insisted that he, rather than all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, had played a major role in the team's failure to reach the World Cup semi-finals, the Guardian had quoted him as saying that an incident involving "Freddie" Flintoff's drinking exploits had damaged team morale.

He was quoted as saying: "You have to be honest: the `Fredalo' incident did affect the team. It did affect morale," referring to Flintoff being found on a pedalo, or paddleboat, at 4am in the morning after their opening group match defeat against New Zealand in St Lucia.

Vaughan insisted on Wednesday that he never used the word "Fredalo," as he wouldn't want to single out an individual for an incident which saw six players in all disciplined for late-night drinking, though an audio file on the Guardian's Web site seemed to prove otherwise.

In it, the England batsman is heard to say: "We had a great preparation week and then unfortunately incidents happened which did affect the team. You've got to be honest, it affected the morale, it affected the spirit."

The Guardian journalist said: "Was it ... ?" to which Vaughan replied: "`Fredalo.' It's bound to affect team spirit. From then on suddenly you've got players I'd like to see go out and enjoy themselves, but no one would dare go out after that and you don't feel you can create a spirit."

Vaughan had earlier denied that he had used the word "Fredalo" while speaking at Old Trafford where the third Test against West Indies started yesterday, adding that he still had a good relationship with Flintoff.

"We are good mates," added Vaughan, who shares an agent with Flintoff. "I have a huge amount of respect for Andrew Flintoff."
This story has been viewed 1240 times.