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Highlights

  • Rob Key to investigate England team’s drinking during Ashes break
  • Videos show Ben Duckett disoriented, Jacob Bethell dancing at club
  • Key warns excessive alcohol use unacceptable, will check facts before action

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Team official investigates drinking by England cricketers on Ashes tour as Duckett video emerges

England cricket managing director Rob Key says he will investigate reports of excessive drinking by players during a mid-Ashes Noosa resort break, following viral videos of Ben Duckett and Jacob Bethell.

Updated: Sep 02, 2022 10:53
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PTI

Team official investigates drinking by England cricketers on Ashes tour as Duckett video emerges

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 retain the Ashes in just 11 days of on-field action. The England 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 “No," 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.

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.

“If there's things where people are saying that our players went out and drank excessively, then of course we'll be looking into that,” he said Tuesday in Melbourne, where the fourth test begins Friday.

“Drinking excessive amounts of alcohol for an international cricket team is not something that I'd expect to see at any stage and it would be a fault not to look into what happened there. From everything that I've heard so far, they actually were pretty well behaved. Very well behaved.”

He added: “We've got enough ways of finding out exactly what happened and everything that I've heard so far—that they sat down, had lunch, had dinner, didn't go out late, all of that, had the odd drink. I don't mind that. If it goes past that, then that's an issue as far as I'm 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 one-day international on Nov. 1.

“I didn't feel like that was worthy of formal warnings, but it was probably worthy of informal ones,” he said. “I think that was a bit of a wake-up call actually for what they're going into. I don't mind players having a glass of wine over dinner. Anything more than that, I think is ridiculous, really.”

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