Graeme Swann might have retired from England's cricket team yesterday but not before dropping what has been interpreted as a bombshell.

In his exit interview, Swann appeared to take a swipe at some of his team-mates, saying: "Some people playing the game at the minute have no idea how far up their own backsides they are. It will bite them on the arse one day and, when it does, I hope they look back and are embarrassed about how they carry on."

Swann has denied that he was taking a dig at team-mates but some of have taken exception to it, especially at a delicate time following defeat in the Ashes.

Tonight we spoke to Times' sportswriter Simon Barnes about the impact Swann's comments have made.

"It was a surprising departure. I didn't expect it at all. You don't retire in the middle of a tour. In some ways, it shows courage to do so and a certain kind of honesty. If your spirit has been broken and your body won't respond anymore, it's probably as well to stand up and say 'sorry guys, I can't do it anymore'," said Barnes.

He saw signs of Swann's decline during the Ashes with the Australians targeting him during the Tour. But the comments from Swann have had a greater impact than his retirement announcement.

"That's Swanny for you. He's a talker. He says what he thinks and he likes a joke. He's a talker and will talk himself into trouble," said Barnes who suspects that Swann was indeed referring to team-mates or more likely a particular team-mate.

"As codes go, it's not exactly the Rosetta Stone or Engima. I think you could probably just crack it and work out the sort of person he was talking about. It might just have been a colleague he may have had a spat with before who might just bat No 4 for England!"

So that's probably Kevin Pietersen who Swann criticized in his autobiography.