GROS ISLET, St. Lucia (AP) — Michael Vaughan spent his day off working on damage control in the wake of Andrew Flintoff’s drunken night out instead of plotting England’s World Cup future.

Key allrounder Andrew Flintoff was axed for England’s 51-run win over Canada yesterday as punishment for a late-night drinking session on Friday night. Five other players were fined.

“All the players are bitterly disappointed with their actions,” Vaughan said. “There’s nothing that can repay what they did.”

Flintoff was also reportedly rescued from the ocean at 4 a.m. by hotel staff after taking a pedalo into the sea and capsizing it.

Fast bowlers James Anderson, Liam Plunkett and Jon Lewis, wicketkeeper Paul Nixon and batsman Ian Bell were fined for being out late at the Rumours nightclub near the team hotel after the six-wicket loss to New Zealand.

“When you are doing these kinds of things, you don’t think,” Vaughan said. “On the Saturday, all the players had realised what they’d done and they were all angry with themselves.

“We know how hard it is to play two games in three days in this heat on this kind of ground. We just didn’t use common sense.”

Vaughan admitted Flintoff might not have been fully recovered to play yesterday anyway.

“(He) could have played today and done very well, that’s his immense talent,” Vaughan said. “Drinking two nights before any game is certainly going to have some kind of actions in your body or your mind.”

Former England captain Nasser Hussain, who captained England from 1999 to 2003, hinted at a drinking culture in the team. Vaughan disagreed.

“I see probably a little bit of immaturity on Friday night and a little bit of lack of common sense,” Vaughan said. “It’s just a mistake that they made, a big mistake and a bad mistake.”

Flintoff didn’t attend the game, but issued a public apology via a statement.

“I know that what I did on Friday night was completely wrong and I have to take full responsibility for it,” Flintoff said. “There can be no excuses on my part. I know I shouldn’t have done what I did and I have to accept the punishment.”

With England not playing its final group game against Kenya until Saturday, Vaughan knows Flintoff would be in the spotlight.

“I know in the next few days he’s going to have a lot of media focus and it’s up to us to make sure we get him focused back on cricket,” Vaughan said.

“I know it’s going to be hard to move on pretty quickly but I think the sooner we can get on the practice field and focus on the Kenya match, the better.”

England need some practice as yesterday’s win wasn’t convincing. England posted 279 for six after being sent into bat at the Beausejour Cricket Ground. After an early wobble, Canada rallied for a credible total of 228-7, highlighted by Ashif Mulla’s 58, as England struggled to bowl them out.

There was another middle-order collapse too, with three wickets falling in an 11-ball sequence.

“The victory was the most important thing,” Vaughan said. “There are areas in which we need to improve. With the incidents on Friday night, unfortunately, we put a lot of undue pressure on ourselves.

“We’re the first to admit that there’s errors in the batting we need to improve, areas in the fielding.”

Vaughan was also shaken by the sudden death of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, a former England batsman and coach at Warwickshire and South Africa, in Jamaica on Sunday.

“Today’s win, the incidences over the last 48 hours, it really hit home when we found out that Bob had passed away when we were on the field today,” Vaughan said.

“It’s been a sad day for cricket because of Bob Woolmer. It’s been a sad day for England because our great allrounder has not been on the pitch today because of disciplinary reasons.”