Flintoff had missed a team bus during a weekend trip to Belgium recently which had upset the England management. Flintoff himself is no less unhappy with his conduct but has vowed to make amends by tormenting Australia with both bat and ball.

"I'm angry with myself for messing up again, but I'll make sure I take it out on Australia. I don't need any further incentive to perform for England in the Ashes. But I am determined to try to make what happened in Belgium a distant memory," he said.

"I hope we can all move on and that this will not be something that affects our Ashes build-up, but it's something for which I have held up my hand and said sorry," Flintoff added.

Flintoff said he is determined to leave behind the episode and put all his energy to help England win back the Ashes.

"I made a mistake and I apologised to all concerned, and though I'm not going to go into what I said, my apology was sincere. The best thing I can do now is try to put the incident behind me and focus all my energies on what's ahead," Flintoff said.

"I truly believe we are capable of winning back the Ashes and I'm excited by the prospect," he said. Flintoff also said that verbal showdowns with Australian players would be unavoidable during the Ashes.

"At some point during the series, it'll go off for a little while. There's an unwritten rule, no personal attacks - there's no place for that in the game - just random abuse. Some of the stuff that's gone on in the past is the funny stuff," he said.

"Shane Warne, who is an unbelievable competitor, used to make himself heard and make himself known, but he does it in a way which is acceptable and competitive," he added.