Flintoff is a party planner

Freddie could certainly be a shambles after having had too many — witness Trafalgar Square — but in my experience he was actually what you might describe, perhaps worryingly, as a well-organised drinker.

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Anyone who has spent long periods travelling with the England team would observe a pattern of his bibulous sprees being carefully planned.

Flintoff is not someone who would habitually drink in Fletcher's prohibited 48 hours before games but what he would do is allocate periods during permitted 'downtime'. A good example is the tour to Pakistan in late 2005 that came after the Ashes triumph.

The England team played Tests in Multan and Faisalabad where the most on offer was a local beer in your room. Flintoff did not seem to miss the grog unduly but after getting to more cosmopolitan Lahore he threw himself into what became a 'lost weekend'.

Fletcher complains about his conduct during the subsequent one-dayers but knew the dangers of his then captain's all-or-nothing tendency. He failed to confront the issue, which was a weakness.

In fact, I understand Michael Vaughan, not just Fletcher, was instrumental in curtailing the now infamous practice session in Sydney where Flintoff had turned up drunk from an all-nighter. That was an unusual instance of the Lancastrian not planning his drinking properly.