Never again, promises Flintoff

A remorseful Andrew Flintoff accepts there can be no excuse for his "foolish" drunken antics

England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff denied having a drink problem but insisted there will be no repeat of his drunken antics in the Caribbean.

The hero of England’s 2005 Ashes triumph stressed he was not promising to go teetotal, but will use better judgement over when and where to have a drink.

The Lancashire player was dropped for Sunday’s World Cup win over Canada and stripped of the vice-captaincy after a late-night drinking session involving five team-mates and two members of the coaching staff following last Friday’s defeat by New Zealand.

“The thing that happened in the nightclub was the wrong place, wrong time,” Flintoff explained.

“I’m not going to say I’m going to have an alcohol-free trip and a glass of wine with my dinner is one thing and the events of Friday night is another.

“It’s not going to happen again, I can assure everyone of that. It’s not doing anybody any favours, not myself, not the team, not anybody.

“The severity of what has happened has hit me hard. I don’t mean to hurt anyone but sometimes I can get a little carried away and it’s no secret I like a drink.”

Flintoff contemplates his future alongside Duncan Fletcher

The 29-year-old added: “Sometimes I have the capacity to go a bit further than maybe I should do. It’s something I’m aware of and it’s something I’m saying won’t happen again.

“I’m getting older and I’ve got more responsibilities as a player and a person and I want to say I’m sorry.

“It was foolish what I did and I’m embarrassed about it - I can’t apologise enough for everyone it’s affected over these last few days.”

Flintoff also vowed to atone for his mistakes during the rest of the tournament.

“I’m going to throw myself into this World Cup as I have done already apart from Friday,” he said. “From my point of view, the stakes have gone up a little bit more.

“I’m desperate to redeem myself on the field to a lot of people and hopefully given the chance I can do that.”

Flintoff issued a heartfelt apology for his behaviour and, after missing out on Sunday’s match and being forced to stay at the hotel, insisted he had learned from the experience.

“As you can imagine I’m not very pleased with myself,” he stressed. “I feel ashamed, I feel I’ve let a few people down - the team at the weekend when I wasn’t available for selection, the management, family, friends and the public.

“It’s been a horrible few days. Sitting trying to find out the scores because it wasn’t on television on Sunday and being around and not being involved was terrible.

Flintoff is especially keen to return to action on the field

“I have a lot of remorse about it all and I’m sorry for what I’ve done because it’s affected a lot of people.”

“We had a few drinks and it’s been well-documented. There has been a little poetic licence in how it’s been reported but that should not detract from the fact what I did was wrong.

“I knew how much I enjoy playing for England anyway, but missing games through injury is one thing and missing games through these circumstances is something I never want to go through again.”

Flintoff accepted he had plenty of work to do to regain the trust of England’s management, his team-mates and the public after the latest in a series of similar incidents throughout his career.

Flintoff conceded: “In the past when I was younger I had a little bit of adversity and I see that again now.

“The thing that is disappointing is that I’m not a teenager any more, I’m not a kid and I’ve got responsibilities on and off the field and I want to adhere to them.

“It’s a huge wake-up call for me and from here now I want to get my career back on track.

“I’ve got to redeem myself on the field and show people off it that this is a one-off, this is the end of these sort of incidents.

“I know that is going to take time to gain people’s trust around the country and here as well but it’s something I’m very keen to do.”