What we have here is a question of cause and effect. Andrew Strauss, the England cricket captain, believes he is addressing a punctuality issue. Hugh Morris, chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board, called it an alarm clock issue. The press box thinks this is a late night on the sauce issue. Actually, it is none of these things.
The issue surrounding Andrew Flintoff’s absence from a team visit to the First World War trenches in Belgium is one of respect. Not just respect for the fallen, either. Respect for his coach, Andy Flower, respect for Strauss as the senior player, most of all respect for that unquantifiable quality known as team spirit, which only exists with the knowledge that while all players are not equal in ability, they must commit to the cause as if they are.
Flintoff is an important player, but he must never be made a special case. He has been indulged too long as it is.
Duncan Fletcher, the former coach, failed to take Flintoff in hand for fear of the commotion it would cause. One feels Flower is made of sterner stuff. To go back to the reasons that Flintoff missed the bus to Ypres, if it was purely about punctuality, the problem could be cured overnight.
New coaches deal with similar issues at undisciplined clubs all the time, usually with a brief reading of something known as the riot act and a list of fines. Similarly, an alarm clock problem is no biggie. A new set of batteries would solve that and you can get them at garages these days. Alcohol is a more complex issue, although if a professional athlete is drunk on parade, he is not up to doing his job and has no place in the team. No debate there.
What cannot be allowed to happen this summer is that pandering to one player undermines the team ethic.
Flintoff is a fine cricketer, no doubt about that, but there are no cosseted individuals in the best teams – certainly not one who, as a batsman, is without a Test century in four years, and as a bowler has two five-wicket hauls in 75 Tests (Sir Ian Botham had 27 of those in 102 Tests, by the way).
This is not to decry Flintoff’s contribution, because he puts his body on the line for his team and the Ashes could not have been won without him in 2005. Yet, while a graph charting Flintoff’s achievements throughout his career would have a downward turn, one indicating the level of maintenance required to nurse him through what is, bottom line, his occupation would have broken through the top of the sheet of paper long ago.
Flintoff has a problem with functioning as a team player once the session ends and ensuring that he does not put coach and captain in the humiliating position of being forced to treat him differently from the rest.
For then, attitudes within the dressing-room alter, resentment builds and the team disintegrates. England cannot afford to spoil Flintoff again, not in Ashes year. It is time to either shape up, or ship out.
Martin Samuel is the chief sports writer of the Daily Mail, where his column appears on Monday and Wednesday