Andrew Stauss says all England players are treated the same

Andrew Strauss has denied suggestions that high-profile players within England's ranks are given special treatment. The claims have come after Andrew Flintoff was disciplined by the England and Wales Cricket Board for missing Saturday morning's team bus to an outing in Belgium, in which players visited the trenches near Ypres. The Lancashire all-rounder later caught up with his colleagues, but it has been suggested that drinking during a team dinner the previous night was the reason why he was late. Strauss has denied claims that was the reason and insisted it was just down to poor time-keeping, while at the same time playing down the incident as a whole. The England captain did reveal there have been punctuality issues with a number of players within the squad over recent months that he is keen to stamp out. Some have questioned whether the powers that be are strong enough to deal with England's big names, with this latest off-field incident concerning Flintoff following his infamous pedalo incident at the 2007 World Cup. However Strauss, who will lead England in an Ashes warm-up match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston, was clear when it was suggested certain players are favoured. He said: "I'd like to refute that. I think that's something going forward that we don't want to see happen. "I think if you buy into a team then you've got to buy into the fact that one person doesn't live to different rules than somebody else. "The instances of punctuality that we've had to deal with have all been dealt with in a more than appropriate manner."

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ITN | July 1, 2009

Tags:. .poor. .appropriate. .manner. .outing. .whole