Reeve admits to cocaine addiction

Dermot Reeve, the former England allrounder and Warwickshire captain, has admitted that he was addicted to cocaine and even confessed to have commentated on a Test match for Channel Four under the influence of the drug. The Test match mentioned was the Lord's Test between England and New Zealand last year and Reeve said he had "no recollection of seeing the ball" on two days of the game.

"I had to watch the match video to hear what I said," he told The Mail on Sunday. "No-one seemed to notice much difference, they just said I was my usual self but more chirpy - and kept doing Imran Khan impressions off-screen. They said it was the funniest commentary they had ever heard."

Reeve, 43, quit Channel Four on Friday after five years as a member of their commentary team. Apart from leading Warwickshire to great heights in the early 1990s, Reeve also played 25 one-day internationals for England, including the World Cup final against Pakistan in 1992.

Reeve also suggested there was widespread use of "illegal substances" within cricket when he played. "If every cricketer I knew at the time I played was banned from playing, you would not have seen very good teams out there," he said. "I occasionally smoked marijuana at that time out of season, but it was never a problem."

He added, though, that his marriage to Fiona, his second wife, had helped him get over the addiction and said, "I have given up cocaine for a month at a time, but I have to be honest and say that I think about it every day that I have given it up. I want to be clean and healthy and fit for my kids and have normal highs that aren't due to cocaine. If I need professional help, I will seek it."