Swann denies lashing out at ex-England teammates with 'far up their own backsides' comment

Retired England off-spinner Graeme Swann has denied that he has slammed his current England teammates with his comment 'they have no idea how far up their own backsides they are'.

Swann, who stunned the sport by announcing his immediate retirement from international and first-class cricket following England's defeat to Australia in the Ashes, caused a stir with comments that were interpreted as being directed towards members of the England team.

Swann also said that 'it will bite them on the a*** one day and when it does he hopes that they look back and are embarrassed about how they carry on.'

Sport24 reports that former England captain Michael Vaughan and former English player Derek Pringle were among those who were convinced that Swann was referring to current members of the side, although Swann took to the social media to deny the claims and told Vaughan not to jump to conclusions.

In another post, Swann took aim at Pringle, saying that he is astonished that people buy into what Pringle says, adding that he supposed 'making stuff' sells papers.

Swann did not identify the people he was most disenchanted with in his initial comment, but in his autobiography 'The Breaks Are Off', he doubted former teammate Kevin Pietersen's credentials as a captain, the report added.