MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) 鈥� England’s managing director of men’s cricket Rob Key says he will investigate the drinking habits of the England team following reports that their mid-Ashes beach resort break may have involved over-indulging of alcohol.
England lost each of the first three tests to allow Australia to in just 11 days of on-field action.
The squad visited the resort town of Noosa on the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane between the second and third tests, a long-planned part of the itinerary designed to help players relax and unwind on the long tour.
A video emerged on Tuesday which appeared to show England’s opening batter Ben Duckett unable to remember how to get back to the hotel.
In the video posted on X, Duckett was apparently talking with a group of people. When a woman asked if he knew how to get home, he allegedly replied 鈥淣o” and the conversation then continues with Duckett appearing disorientated.
Another video posted on social media showed batter Jacob Bethell dancing in a club. Bethell, however, has not played in the test series so far.
According to multiple reports, the England and Wales Cricket Board said in a statement that it was aware of content circulating online but that it would not comment further until it had established the facts.
England captain and star allrounder Ben Stokes said at a media conference Wednesday that the mental health of the English players was his top priority.
“It鈥檚 never a nice place to be in when, not only the media world but also the social media world, is just piling on top of you. It鈥檚 a very tough place to be in as an individual,鈥� Stokes said.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e 3-0 down and you鈥檝e lost the series, everything you say, everything you do gets scrutinized 鈥� and rightly so. You don鈥檛 really have a leg to stand on when you鈥檝e lost three games in a huge series like this. When you win, everything鈥檚 great, when you鈥檙e losing, it鈥檚 not.鈥�
Duckett has been one of test cricket’s most productive openers in the past couple of years at test level and in the shorter one day international format.
He entered the series with six test hundreds and was touted by some observers to make an impact in Australia with his crisp and decisive stroke-making. But his tendency to rarely leave the ball coincided with his form dipping considerably during the Ashes series, with a top score of 29 from six innings.
In the third test, Duckett was finding his free-flowing form with 29 scored from 30 balls before being bowled by premier spinner Nathan Lyon playing a somewhat defensive shot.
In the second innings, with England trying to save the match and the series, Duckett lasted two balls. He hit a fine four off Pat Cummins and was then caught off the next delivery from Cummins when he played a shot well away from his body.
Key, who did not join the players in Noosa, earlier said he had no problem with the break, but would not be happy if he found evidence of over-indulging.
鈥淚f there鈥檚 things where people are saying that our players went out and drank excessively, then of course we鈥檒l be looking into that,鈥� he said Tuesday in Melbourne, where the fourth test begins Friday.
鈥淒rinking excessive amounts of alcohol for an international cricket team is not something that I鈥檇 expect to see at any stage and it would be a fault not to look into what happened there. From everything that I鈥檝e heard so far, they actually were pretty well behaved. Very well behaved.鈥�
He added: 鈥淲e鈥檝e got enough ways of finding out exactly what happened and everything that I鈥檝e heard so far that they sat down, had lunch, had dinner, didn鈥檛 go out late, all of that, had the odd drink. I don鈥檛 mind that. If it goes past that, then that鈥檚 an issue as far as I鈥檓 concerned.”
Key also said he had previously looked into reports that players had been spotted drinking the night before a match in New Zealand shortly before the Ashes.
A short clip of white-ball captain Harry Brook and Bethell was shared by a member of the public on social media, said to have been taken while they were out in Wellington before the third .
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 feel like that was worthy of formal warnings, but it was probably worthy of informal ones,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 think that was a bit of a wake-up call actually for what they鈥檙e going into. I don鈥檛 mind players having a glass of wine over dinner. Anything more than that, I think is ridiculous, really.鈥�
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