Former England cricket captain Andrew Flintoff, 43, has revealed that he was a compulsive drinker since he was 17 and his habit resulted in his career-ending when he was just 31.

In his book, The Book Of Fred, the former cricketer wrote: “Drinking became another thing I had to be the best at. 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...”