Is it Michael Vaughan's turn to be caught legless before wicket?

12 April 2012

Only last week he was criticising Andrew Flintoff for his drunken antics on a pedalo, saying they had undermined the morale of the England cricket team.

So could that really be Michael Vaughan looking decidedly the worse for wear after drinking for several hours?

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Vaughan's head lolls forward

Sadly for the England captain, yes, it could. The player, who will have to lead his side into action on Friday, sat slumped and apparently asleep on a bench before being helped into a taxi. He had been celebrating his side's

Test victory over the West Indies on Monday, which made him England's most successful captain of all time with 21 Test wins.

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Dreaming of Ashes victories to come, no doubt

But now he has laid himself open to claims of hypocrisy with his antics after the match.

Vaughan started at Manchester's trendy Living Room bar, before moving on the Cloud 23 cocktail bar at the Hilton Hotel.

But by 10.45pm he had clearly had enough and was helped into a taxi, before being driven to the Lowry Hotel, where the team were staying. An onlooker said:

"Vaughan was staggering drunk by about 9.30pm. He had obviously been celebrating hard, he could hardly walk. He came out of the hotel bar and into the foyer where he walked into a window, thinking it was the way out.

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A security guard steps in to make sure Vaughan is all right

"Then he sat down on a wall outside and fell asleep for about five minutes. Only when a security guard went to see if he was okay was he put into a cab back to the Lowry.

"He was so drunk he had to be helped out of the taxi and upstairs to his room by one of the porters."

It was last week that Vaughan criticised "Freddie" Flintoff for his behaviour at the cricket world cup. A drunken Flintoff had to be rescued after falling from a pedalo in the sea off St Lucia.

Vaughan claimed in a newspaper interview that the incident undermined team morale and "changed the whole atmosphere in the squad".

But another onlooker who saw him on Monday night said: "It looked as if he had been taking some tips from Freddie. I don't think he is any position to criticise his players on their boozy antics. It was a bit hypocritical."

Vaughan's agent was unavailable for comment last night.

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