Flintoff armed for Ashes

Flintoff's left arm bears the names of his wife and children

England captain Andrew Flintoff's huge new tattoo represents his passion for cricket, says the man who etched it.

The work was done by celebrity tattooist Louis Molloy, who numbers David Beckham among his clients.

"We'd had this design in the pipeline for about the last three or four months," Molloy told BBC Five Live.

"Andrew is passionate about his cricket and wanted to reflect that, so we came up with this heraldic/ contemporary version of the England badge."

Flintoff, 28, already had the names of his wife Rachael, son Corey and daughter Holly tattooed on his left arm.

Molloy says the tattoo "isn't really that big"

The new tattoo covers almost all of his upper right arm, but Molloy denied it was too large.

"It is a big tattoo but, to be fair, it could be covered quite easily by one of his playing shirts," said Molloy, whose customers include footballer David Beckham.

"Andy is a big lad but in the scale of things it isn't really that big. It's more the impact of one day seeing bare skin and the next quite a prominent piece of art on his arm.

"He's at an age where he knows his own mind. It's making a statement about something he does for his career. I don't think for one minute he'll regret what he's done."

The new tattoo includes the Roman numerals for Flintoff's Test player number (591 - DXCI) and one-day player number (154 - CLIV), below the three lions of the England badge.