Flintoff given the flick

Embattled English cricket captain Andrew Flintoff has been dropped with former captain Michael Vaughan to take over for the rest of the tour.

Vaughan will resume his role as England captain in Tuesday's Twenty20 game against Australia and the triangular one-day series, the chairman of England's selectors David Graveney said on Sunday.

“It will be a fantastic boost for everyone to have Michael Vaughan back as captain for the one-day series,” confirmed Graveney.

“His leadership experience will be invaluable as we prepare for a tough series against an excellent Australian team.

“It is to Andrew Flintoff’s credit that he was prepared to take on the responsibility of leading the Test side in Australia in Michael’s absence.

“But Michael is the England captain and he will now begin the task of preparing the team for the challenges that lie ahead this winter.”

At the same time team coach, Duncan Fletcher, admitted Flintoff suffred from inexperience.

"We feared that the workload was too great on a tour like this to Australia," said Fletcher. "I do believe it is a lot to ask of him, particularly with an inexperienced side where you've got to do a lot of captaining and you don't get a lot of help from the young guys.

"Fred's very inexperienced as well. He's only captained in six [Tests] before here, and he's not captained a county side either, so that's a lot on his shoulders."