Andrew Flintoff, affectionately known as Freddie, had quite the career on and off the cricket field, with many of his stories legendary.

However, as he prepares to start life as the England Lions coach, those days of partying are over for a variety of reasons.

Flintoff epitomised everything great about English cricketAFP – Getty

As a player, the Preston-born all-rounder was captivating and could deliver moments of magic from nowhere.

He became a modern-day icon, and he used to enjoy his fair share of partying and celebrating.

Flintoff displayed great promise as a cricketer early into his career, but drinking was with him from very young.

In his autobiography, Ashes to Ashes, he admitted that one day he turned up to practice ‘smelling of booze’.

Then, when on tour at the age of 17, Flintoff consumed ten pints of Guinness.

Gradually, as his senior career progressed, Flintoff mainly only drank to celebrate, with a few evenings going down in legend.

One in particular will always be fondly remembered by England fans because it was the night Flintoff and co won the 2005 Ashes.

That series, which England won 2-1, is widely regarded as the greatest ever.

After sealing the win at The Oval, the England players partied all night before heading off to Downing Street the day after for a meeting with the Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

Then, a rooftop bus parade through the centre of London culminated in a huge celebration in Trafalgar Square with 250,000 fans.

Flintoff was worse for wear during the 2005 celebrations

Flintoff had been drinking for a day-and-a-half by the time the bus parade started

Speaking to talkSPORT in 2023 about those celebrations, former England bowler Steve Harmison recalled the team’s boozing.

He said: “Freddie and I didn’t leave the hotel bar.

“Freddie was one of the only ones who kept drinking all the way through. I think I left at 6:45am, but nobody slept.

“It was a great celebration. Freddie tried to sing Suspicious Minds in front of 250,000 people. He got the first line out before they cut the microphone, which is a shame because the big lad can sing, but not after a night-and-a-half on the sauce.”

Along with those legendary 2005 scenes, Flintoff also enjoyed a wild night with Oasis and Kasabian in 2009 after delaying an operation to take part in the Ashes.

England won the first Test in Cardiff, and Flintoff headed to London for a quiet drink in The Landmark hotel, but it turned into carnage.

Flintoff stayed up all evening with the two British bands.

Speaking about that experience to The Sun, he said: “The night was certainly wild, like something you would imagine in the early Seventies with the Rolling Stones.

“Everyone was hammered, the staff were trying to calm it down, guests were complaining. Looking back, part of me was celebrating a great Test match and part wanted to forget about my knee and let off steam.”

Flintoff went to bed at 6am before heading to see a specialist at 8am, where he was told he would need an operation, and that marked the end of his Test career after four years of constant injuries.

Adding to his initial story, he said: “I was hammered and my career was ending.”

Flintoff enjoyed a great night with the Gallagher brothers before finding out some crushing news

It also marked a turning point in Flintoff’s relationship with drinking.

With no more reasons to celebrate with his teammates, the all-rounder realised that he was drinking to hide his real feelings.

He said: “When I was drinking, the problem lay in the cover-up.

“I was boozing to try to change the way I felt and that’s when it became a problem. If I latched on, I would get into drinking, and not just for one session. It would go on for weeks and that couldn’t continue.”

So, he quit and has been sober for years, and despite enjoying some great nights, he’s happier to be off the booze.

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