Flintoff was ditched as vice-captain and dropped from the team’s match against Canada after his antics on the island of St Lucia.

He said: “I know that what I did on Friday night was completely wrong and I have to take full responsibility for it. There can be no excuses on my part. I know I shouldn’t have done what I did and I have to accept the punishment.

“To my team-mates and the England supporters that I let down, all I can say is that I am extremely sorry and assure everyone that I will be giving 110% for England for the rest of this tournament.”

The squad is today rebuilding its shattered morale after an unconvincing 51 run victory over minnows Canada.

Canada’s total of 228-7 was its highest ever score in the World Cup.

The England team now has a strong chance of progressing to the next stage but a win against Kenya on Saturday is crucial.

Flintoff’s fall from grace began on Friday night following England’s defeat in their first group game against New Zealand.

Flintoff and several other players stayed out until the early hours of the morning at a nightclub near the team’s hotel.

According to newspaper reports, he then fell off a pedalo boat and got into difficulties in the water after taking the craft out for a late-night cruise.

England’s management reacted by dropping the 29-year-old from the Group C match with Canada, stripping him of the vice-captaincy and fining him.

It follows numerous reprimands about his behaviour over the years – his last World Cup ended when he was fined for missing a team function in South Africa.

Furious coach Duncan Fletcher said: “Andrew Flintoff has been given warnings about his conduct and disciplined for previous incidents of this nature.

“Andrew has been made fully aware of the team management’s concerns and the fact that the ECB considers this type of behaviour to be totally unacceptable.

“In light of this and due to the serious nature of the incident which he was involved in at the hotel on Friday night, we have decided to take further disciplinary action against him.”

Although Flintoff has never shied away from celebrating a victory, the fact that this latest session followed a defeat may have led to his downfall.

He famously emerged bleary-eyed from a London hotel following a night of excess to celebrate England’s 2005 Ashes triumph.

But at the time this was viewed with amusement by the public as his on-field heroics that summer had led to an historic victory.

England have not named Flintoff’s replacement as vice-captain, but Paul Collingwood has been touted as a leading candidate.

Five other players who were out with him on Friday were also fined for breaching team discipline.

They were named as James Anderson, Ian Bell, Paul Nixon and Liam Plunkett – all of whom were included for the match against Canada – and Jon Lewis.

Ian Botham, with whom Flintoff has often been compared, supported his fellow all-rounder.

He said: "I’m laughing. I find it all quite amusing and a total over-reaction. OK, there’s 24 hours until the next game but people react in different ways. Some players go to bed at 10.30pm tired, some go out and have a drink."