Fresh from a New Year's Eve cruise on Sydney Harbour, which only a handful of his team-mates attended, under-siege England captain Andrew Flintoff has dismissed reports of a split in the camp.

Flintoff also defended Kevin Pietersen against an accusation from Australia coach John Buchanan that England's leading batsman was a "selfish" player.

Trailing four-nil, the tourists have been rocked by reports five players, including Pietersen, failed to attend the team's Christmas lunch before the Melbourne Test.

Flintoff admitted the players had gone their separate ways for New Year's Eve but he said morale within the team was still strong ahead of Tuesday's start to the fifth and final Test at the SCG.

"I'm not bothered what John Buchanan says about Kevin Pietersen. We know Kevin, we know the fantastic things he does on the pitch," Flintoff said.

"He's a real asset in our dressing room since he's come into the side. He's a popular member.

"So I'm not worried about Kevin Pietersen or I'm not worried about anyone else in our dressing room.

"Everyone fits in, everyone is a different character. They are a real happy bunch ... We all bounce off each other.

"I enjoy being around them to keep me up. The morale's good.

"Obviously we're not happy with the way things have gone but as a group of people ... morale has taken a few knocks at times. When you get beat, that does happen.

"We've stuck together well and it would be nice of we could just get something out of this trip now."

Flintoff said the Christmas Day lunch wasn't compulsory.

"Some lads did their own thing. I wouldn't read too much into that," he said.

"As for last night, the lads were left to their own devices to do what they wanted to do. Some went to a restaurant, some went on a boat, and some did their own thing."

Flintoff produced one of the great Ashes performances of all time in England in 2005, taking 24 wickets at 27.29 and belting 402 runs at 40.20.

In Australia, with the added burden of the captaincy and battling a sore ankle, the all-rounder's modest return of 158 runs at 22.57 and 10 wickets at 42.50 has put his side on the back foot.

"I've not performed as well as I'd like to on this trip and I've got one last chance to do something, make some runs, take some wickets for the team ... show what I can do," he said.

"We've got one more chance to play against (Shane) Warne and (Glenn) McGrath and test ourselves against these people.

"We are playing against the best of the best. That's something we can be excited about taking on.

"There's all different incentives for us to play well. As for spoiling a party, I don't think that's pretty much up there."

Flintoff said England was considering promoting 25-year-old off-spinner Jamie Dalrymple for his Test debut to partner left-arm spinner Monty Panesar. Paceman Sajid Mahmood would be the likely player to miss out.

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