If England wants to prevent Andrew Flintoff from drifting off, they should make him a selector, suggested former player Allan Lamb.

Flintoff lost vice captaincy after his much publicised late night drinking binge in the World Cup but Lamb believes the all-rounder should be made part of the team management.

• Schedule: West Indies in England

"I believe they should bring him on board and into the management team. When David Gower lost the captaincy we did it and got the best out of him.

"If they don't do it with Freddie he could drift off and not be the player he was," Lamb told BBC.

Andrew Strauss will lead England in absence of injured regular skipper Michael Vaughan in the first Test against the West Indies starting on Thursday at Lord's and Lamb believes same should have been done during England's Ashes tour.

"It was too much pressure for Freddie. He had an injury to his ankle, it was too much to ask and the selectors got it totally wrong," Lamb said.

Flintoff caused a huge embarrassment for the side when he and five of his team mates were fined for breaching team discipline after that drinking session.

"There's probably only one bar and the supporters are going to be there," Lamb said.

"They say they're paying 5,000 pounds to watch England do well and there's Freddie getting drunk in the bar. He got it wrong - he should have been at the hotel or somewhere else if he wanted to have a drink," Lamb added.