07 October 2023 , 06:00
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The 2007 Cricket World Cup was not one to write home about for England, who crashed out in the Super 8 stage while Ashes rivals Australia went on to lift the trophy for a third consecutive time.
Central to England's World Cup hopes heading into the tournament was talismanic all-rounder Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff, two years on from his heroic performances in the 2005 Ashes series which made him a national hero. However, things quite literally did not go to plan from ball one, with Flintoff getting out for a golden duck as England lost their World Cup opener to New Zealand by six wickets.
After the game, he was one of several players who went out drinking until the early hours, where he was involved in what he called "an incident involving water and a pedalo". England coach Duncan Fletcher was furious with him, stripping him of the vice-captaincy, banning him from the next game against Canada and calling a press conference to explain his actions.
James Anderson, Ian Bell, Jon Lewis, Paul Nixon and Liam Plunkett were also fined by England after being seen out late at a nightclub. It was claimed at the time that Flintoff had capsized a pedalo and needed to be rescued, but he later revealed he never even managed to make it on to the pedalo in the first place.
He also revealed the reason behind the incident, stating on an episode of Piers Morgan's Life Stories that he knew England legend Ian Botham was out in the harbour on a boat and he wanted to join him for a drink. "We'd played New Zealand on the Friday, the first game of the World Cup, and things hadn't being going well," he said.
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"We'd just come off the back of the Ashes (a 5-0 whitewash under his captaincy), and I was so desperate to do well in this World Cup. I went out, I got a duck, out first ball actually ... then I didn't get a wicket, and then we got beat.
"I went back to the hotel room ... I thought ... 'I'm not going out' ... but I was in my room, I was smashing the room up, I was gutted and then I thought ... 'I'm going to go out for a bit'. About 1.30am I thought ... 'I'm hammered here, go home'.
In 2012, Flintoff swapped a drunken pedalo escapade for a charitable one when he and close friend Steve Harmison set a new 100m record to raise money for Sport Relief (PA)"I had to walk partially across the beach. For some reason I had this idea these boats out to sea - it sounds bizarre - but I knew Ian Botham was on one (boat) and I thought ... 'I'm going to have a nightcap with Beefy'.
"I thought 'I can't swim ... that would be dangerous', so I was going to get a kayak. I couldn't find the oars, so I dragged this pedalo into the water. The next morning I woke up, I was on my bed and ... still wet and ... sand between my toes.
"Then the door knocked. The door had these slats, and I thought it was the maid wanting to clean the room. So I said 'can you come back?'. But it was the coach. I pulled the slats down and answered the door, and then Duncan just said 'my room - now'."