NEXT time Andrew Flintoff goes into the boxing ring, maybe he should take a few lessons from his Lancashire team-mate Iain Sutcliffe.

Freddie squared up to WBA welterweight champion Ricky Hatton for a TV programme last week and discovered what it is like to be on the receiving end of one of the most powerful pound-for-pound boxers in the business.

But former British Universities light-middleweight champion Sutcliffe could have taught him a thing or two.

Yorkshire-born Sutcliffe won a blue in both boxing and cricket at Oxford University.

He still enjoys training, and this week dropped in to an anti-drugs and alcohol scheme in Rochdale where youngsters are training to become sports coaches.

"Boxing is great for discipline, there is no better sport to teach discipline and respect," said Sutcliffe, who began training at the gym of former British and Commonwealth super-middleweight champion Henry Wharton in Leeds.

"I started when I was about 10 and I boxed there for three or four years and then took it up again when I went to university.

"I didn't fight competitively after that, but I have used it for training. I have sparred with former Surrey captain Adam Hollioake and pro boxer Scott Welch.

"I haven't done any this winter, but I still love the sport and try and get to a couple of fights a year. The last one I went to was Joe Calzaghe's world title win over Jeff Lacy. I've also met Ricky Hatton a couple of times."

Injuries

Although Sutcliffe has suffered his fair share of injuries and knocks during his cricketing career - he had a metal plate inserted into his cheekbone after it was broken by a Liam Plunkett delivery in 2003 - he knows life is tougher in boxing's pro ranks.

"I had a choice between boxing and cricket when I was about 13, but I naturally moved towards cricket. I never seriously considered becoming a pro boxer," said Sutcliffe.

"It is a very hard sport. If I had shown exceptional talent at it, then I might have given it a go. But if you don't fight at the very top, it is a hard sport to make a living from."

His days in the gym, however, have stood the left-hander in good stead and has even helped his technique at the crease.

"There are remarkable similarities in terms of batting," said the 31-year-old. "One of the biggest things is weight distribution and footwork. You use it a lot in boxing to generate power and to move around the ring, and it is the same in batting when you play off the front and back front.

The left-handed opener likes a challenge. During the 2002/3 close season, he walked hundreds of miles through Europe, biked over the Pyrenees and rowed part of the Med in an Edinburgh-to-Tangiers trek for a charity campaign organised by ex-Surrey captain Adam Hollioake.

"I like to test myself," said Sutcliffe, who will be hoping to improve on what has been a poor start to the season by his standards when Lancs begin their Liverpool Victoria County Championship match with Nottinghamshire at Old Trafford today.

"I feel like I am hitting the ball reasonably well, but I am not really managing to put a score together. All I need to do is to get a start and I'm sure I will be OK," he said.

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