Stand-in captain Andrew Flintoff has backed under-fire England coach Duncan Fletcher in the aftermath of the latest one-day humiliation.

England crashed to a nine-wicket defeat at the hands of Australia, undoubtedly their worst display of the entire tour down under.

The past week's results, in fact, have shown a steady decline - the 110 all out at the Adelaide Oval following scores of 155 and 120 - to suggest that the team is lacking direction.

Flintoff, however, spoke up for Zimbabwean Fletcher, insisting the blame lay elsewhere.

Asked whether the coach still had the confidence of the players, Flintoff said: ''Yes, of course he does. Duncan has been fantastic. He has taken this side forward in the past few years.

''If you speak to every lad in the dressing room they have got something from him and have improved by working with him.

''Now it is up us to repay him, almost, and put some performances in.

''The coach and the coaching staff give us all the tools; they work with us, they help us, and ultimately it is up to the lads who walk out onto the field.

''When you are in the middle batting it is down to you. The coach can only give you so much. You have got to perform.'' Fletcher, in charge since 1999-2000, took the unprecedented step of apologising publicly for the latest capitulation.

Flintoff also felt the need to say sorry for the batting failures - in five matches in the Commonwealth Bank Series only twice have Englishman recorded a half-century and Kevin Pietersen, one of the two, departed with a broken rib after the first match.

''Coming into this game we were wanting to show that we were better than that and we have been bowled out for 110 so you can imagine the feeling,'' added Flintoff.

''I feel a little bit embarrassed.

''We are far better players than we are showing at the moment, we have competed with Australia in the past and we have beaten them in games but at the moment we are nowhere.

''Also as well there was a big crowd wanting to see a big game of cricket and they haven't.

''People at home sat up through the night watching us on TV, others got up in the morning hoping to hear of an England victory and we have let them down.'' The margin of victory typified the gulf that now exists between two countries who matched each other pound for pound throughout the summer of 2005.

''I guess from a spectators' point of view they will be a little disappointed but what can we do?'' said Australia captain Ricky Ponting, who brought up his half-century with the runs which sealed the contest.

''We are out there trying to play the best cricket we can and we've taken another step towards where we want to be in the one-day game.

''There is no doubt England are struggling, I think we are probably a lot better side now as well.

''That is the way I have tended to look at it over the last few months - I haven't been focusing on how badly they've been playing or how well they've been playing.

''I have been focusing on what we have been doing and how we've been going about playing our cricket.'' Kevin Pietersen brightens up the day for sick youngsters - see this weekend's Pink.