Former England coach Duncan Fletcher says he has no regrets in revealing details about Andrew Flintoff's drinking during the last Ashes tour.

But he insisted that he was right not to act before the Australia tour ended, and suggested Flintoff might get a shot at the England captaincy again.

He told BBC One's Inside Sport: "I have concerns about the level of debate that's been reached.

"I wanted to be loyal to him [Flintoff] but loyalty should be two-way traffic."

Inside Sport interview: Duncan Fletcher

Fletcher's book, Behind the Shades, included the revelation that he had to cancel a training session in Sydney last winter because Flintoff was drunk.

But he has since been castigated for bringing up events that, his critics suggest, should have been kept under wraps.

Fletcher explained he had chosen to mention Flintoff's drinking in Sydney by way of a "link" to the incident in St Lucia earlier this year when the all-rounder fell off a pedalo and was stripped of the vice-captaincy as a result.

606: DEBATE It is a shame that Fletcher chose to say what he did, because English cricket owes him a huge amount BS

He said: "I felt let down after the pedalo affair. I just felt that I linked it directly to what had happened in Sydney, and just felt let down in such a serious situation.

"I was under huge pressure at the time."

Explaining why he did not bring the event out into the open at the time, Fletcher explained: "I just felt at the time we had been struggling along and hadn't played good cricket.

"I was under enormous pressure to suddenly do something dramatic. You are in the position where you don't know what the outcome is - it's an uncontrollable situation.

"I thought that loyalty to Andrew at that time was the way to carry on, to reprimand him and win this one-day series [which England achieved]."

"If the pedalo affair hadn't taken place there's a very good chance we would have carried on managing Andrew and the situation would have looked after itself."

I would rather pick a batter wicket-keeper than a keeper-batter and he must be the pulse of the side Fletcher explaining why he regularly ignored Chris Read

Fletcher said that even with hindsight he did not regret making Flintoff captain for the Ashes tour, and asked if the Lancashire star might lead his country again he replied: "I see no reason [why not].

"If that foot lets him bowl as well as he can there's no reason he shouldn't captain down the line."

He defended the decision to allow England's cricketers to fly home from India just before the Ashes tour rather than play an extra warm-up match in Australia.

And Fletcher also explained his strong views on Monty Panesar and Chris Read, players who struggled to win international caps under him.

"People have interpreted a personal thing that I have against players like Panesar and Read.

"All I am trying to do is be very specific.

"I've always felt a finger spinner should be able to bat and field and I would rather pick a batter wicket-keeper than a keeper-batter and he must be the pulse of the side.

"[The wicket-keeper] has got to be in the batsman's ear now and again - that's what all great wicket-keepers do."