Flintoff urges English to learn from Ashes loss

ANDREW FLINTOFF has urged England’s hierarchy to collect the views of their entire beaten squad to ensure the humiliation of the Ashes whitewash was not “a pointless exercise.”

England’s stand-in captain believes England should collate as much information as possible from their Australian tour disaster if they are to learn from their mistakes and move forward before the start of the 2009 Ashes series on home soil.

The tourists’ final torment was completed before lunch on the fourth day of the final Test at the SCG when openers Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden completed a ten-wicket victory by chasing down their modest victory target of 46 in only 10.5 overs.

It established England as the first side since 1920-21 to suffer a 5-0 Ashes reverse and against an Australian side who were famously labelled ‘Dad’s Army’ before the start of the series by ex-England captain Ian Botham.

Flintoff believes it is imperative to analyse the tour if they are not going to suffer a similar result in 2009.

“One thing we’ve got to do is make sure that this can’t be a pointless exercise,” said Flintoff. “I know we’ve been beaten 5-0, but this is a young side and it’s important we learn something.”