The Surfer

'We're all fighting to win' - Flintoff

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In an interview to Paul Hayward of the Observer, Andrew Flintoff gives his thoughts in the aftermath of the captain-coach row, and states he's not interested in captaining England again. The talk of dressing-room divisions came up in the wake of the fallout between Kevin Pietersen and Peter Moores, but Flintoff feels cliques are nothing uncommon.

"I'm in that dressing room. I don't need to read about it. Everyone's going on about cliques and this and that. I suppose there are. You get put together as a group of people. The one thing you've got in common is that you play cricket. Within that, you'll get on better with someone. That's not to the detriment of the side. That's how it is. If you're in an office or any other walk of life you get on better with some than others and that's how the England team works. When you get on the pitch we're all fighting for the same outcome. We want to win games of cricket. I really don't see it being a problem."

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"I play darts," Flintoff asserts. Proudly. "Harmy is the instigator of that. He brings a dartboard on tour every time. We have our own little Premier League. There's me, Harmy, Alastair Cook, Jimmy Anderson, Tim Ambrose, Graeme Swann.

"Harmy's great for the team. If anyone's got a problem they go straight to Harmy. He's got his door open every time. He's got his DVDs. It's almost as if Harmy's room has become the team room or the common room for everyone. There's people coming and going all the time. He does still get homesick but he's learned to deal with it. His influence on the side, which isn't seen, is absolutely huge."

England

Mathew Varghese is sub-editor (stats) at Cricinfo