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| Emergency? Dial 999. Dubai police helicopter will take only 8 minutes to reach you. |
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| Avoid taking photos of Muslim women and sensitive buildings and installations. Ask permission first. |
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| Time here is four hours ahead of GMT. And it does not change during the summer. |
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PERTH-ETIC!
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 Andrew Flintoff |
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By
Agencies
Agencies
Flintoff’s future as England captain questioned by British media
LONDON/PERTH Andrew Flintoff’s future as England captain was questioned by British media early today following his side’s humbling Ashes defeat in Australia. Flintoff was chosen as captain for the series ahead of Andrew Strauss with regular skipper Michael Vaughan ruled out due to injury. “Is it over for Fred’s captaincy?,” said the Daily Express, suggesting Flintoff could be cast as a lame-duck skipper for the rest of the Ashes series if Vaughan was reinstated as one-day captain when the squad is announced on Thursday. The Times stuck with the captaincy theme under the back-page headline: “Vaughan will rush back as captain for one-day series”. Most papers ridiculed England’s performance in losing the first three tests to Ricky Ponting’s Australia. The front page of the Daily Telegraph’s sport section said: “England have been made to look like dingbats but Ponting leads a magnificent team”. “England waited 16 years and 15 days to regain the Ashes in the glorious summer of 2005. The historic urn was in England’s possession for just one year, 96 days and 12 hours and Ricky Ponting’s team needed only 86 hours and 40 minutes playing time to snatch the Ashes back,” the Telegraph added. More criticism for Flintoff came from the Guardian which said: “Misfiring Flintoff sums up England’s Ashes”. A sub-heading beside a column written by former England seamer Mike Selvey read: “Flintoff blazed yesterday but his batting has gone to pot and he has lost the art of wicket-taking”. “Perthetic”, was the back-page headline in popular tabloid The Sun. “Freddie Flintoff’s Perth flops handed back the urn to Australia after just 15 days of Test cricket Down Under, the shortest defence in history,” the Sun said. Vaughan tipped to lead Despite another failure with the bat as he continues his comeback, Michael Vaughan is expected to return to England’s one-day squad later this week and may regain the captaincy. In his fourth match since knee surgery, Vaughan was dismissed for 14 here Tuesday playing for the England Academy, just hours after England coach Duncan Fletcher had given his rehabilitation a glowing endorsement. Vaughan had made a duck and nine in his two previous appearances for the England Academy here over the last fortnight, and did not bat in the two-day game England played against WA. There were mitigating circumstances for Tuesday’s failure, as the ball was seaming about prodigiously in overcast and muggy conditions ideal for swing bowling. Vaughan lasted 32 balls and showed signs of his form returning with a couple of elegant boundaries, before again falling to a mistimed pull shot that was skied to mid-on, as he had done in his previous innings. Despite his indifferent form, the 2005 Ashes skipper is expected to be recalled when England announces its squad for the triangular one-day series, starting in mid-January, later this week. Fletcher again ruled out Vaughan playing in the last two Ashes Tests and said the selectors were yet to make a final decision on the form and fitness of the former skipper with regards to a one-day recall. However, the tone of Fletcher’s response suggested the 32-year-old was very much on target to play in the triangular series. “It is very positive and it is pleasing to see,” he said. “Vaughan has been training with (fitness trainer) Nigel Stockill and he is moving around very freely.” (Agencies) |
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