After his heroics in England's Ashes victory two summers ago, a bleary-eyed Andrew Flintoff's celebratory drink marathon was looked on with amused toleration.
But the millionaire cricketer with the famous thirst has finally gone on one spree too many.
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A drunken Flintoff allegedly had to be rescued at 4am after borrowing a pedalo and capsizing it in the Caribbean.
He had led several teammates on a boozing binge after England's crushing defeat by New Zealand in their opening World Cup match.
Yesterday, as his colleagues took on Canada, 29-year-old "Freddie" was holed up in their hotel in St Lucia after being sacked as vice- captain and dropped from the side.
He issued a grovelling apology for his behaviour, saying: "I have to accept my punishment.
To my team-mates and England supporters who I let down all I can say is that I am extremely sorry."
The players were reported by angry fans who spotted them out drinking in the small hours of Saturday, breaching a strict midnight curfew and ignoring orders to get an early night.
Flintoff was joined by teammates James Anderson, Ian Bell, Paul Nixon, Liam Plunkett and Jon Lewis at the Rumours club, close to the team hotel.
They carried on drinking until at least 3am, before the all-rounder apparently decided to climb into the pedalo and wade into the Caribbean. Night staff apparently had to help him ashore.
The players are believed to have been fined 1,000 each, with the money going to a cricket charity.
It has also emerged that two members of the coaching staff were with the group, yet failed to persuade them to go to bed. Witnesses said bowling coach Kevin Shine and sports psychologist Jeremy Snape were drinking with the players at 2am.
One fan said: "It seems extraordinary that hours after losing the biggest one-day game of their careers, and 30 hours before playing a match they cannot afford to lose, they are out drinking until the small hours.
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England's chief coach Duncan Fletcher described Flintoff's behaviour as "totally unacceptable". He added: "He has been given warnings about his conduct and disciplined for previous incidents of this nature. In light of this and due to the serious nature of the incident which he was involved in on Friday night, we have decided to take further disciplinary action against him.
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The England and Wales Cricket Board said Flintoff, who had led England during skipper Michael Vaughan's lengthy injury absences over the last year, would not lead the side should a new captain be needed during the tournament.
Nasser Hussain, a former captain and team-mate of Flintoff, said: "This is not the way to behave as an England cricketer. There is a history to this story.
In Australia he had three or four warnings about his drinking. The management felt enough is enough. At some stage you have to have some strong management, even with your best cricketer.
"This is a pretty young side. A lot of the team look up to Flintoff and if you keep saying it's okay for Freddie, they will think, "If he is doing it, I can do it".
"This will now send a message to the others that this is not how you prepare as an England cricketer.
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Another ex-captain, Bob Willis, said: "I think Freddie has been making a fool of himself since the celebrations of the 2005 Ashes. Some of the players in the squad are only going to have one opportunity to play in a World Cup and they don't need their talisman behaving like that."
But Ian Botham described the row as an "over-reaction".
He said: "Some people go to bed at 10.30pm tired, other people like to go for a drink.
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