England investigate Ashes drinking as video emerges

England will investigate reports of players drinking excessively during a break from the Ashes series in the beach town of Noosa.

The England squad spent four nights on the Queensland coast between the second and third Test.

Several media outlets, including the BBC, reported that some players were drinking for a significant portion of their time in Noosa, as well as on two previous days in Brisbane, the venue for the second Test.

A video was shared on social media on Tuesday which appeared to show England opener Ben Duckett drunk.

Although England produced an improved performance in the third Test in Adelaide, Australia won to take an unassailable 3-0 lead and retain the Ashes in only 11 days of cricket.

“We’ll be looking into seeing what the facts are as opposed to the things that have been embellished or elaborated on,” England director of cricket Rob Key told BBC Sport.

“Headlines can be misleading at times, saying it’s a stag do and stuff like that.

“Stories of players drinking six days solid – that’s unacceptable.”

In the video, which has not been verified by BBC Sport, Duckett is asked if he knows how to get home. He says “no” and later swears.

The England and Wales Cricket Board said it is “establishing the facts” around the video and that it has “high expectations” around player behaviour.

Duckett was dropped from the England Lions squad during a tour of Australia in 2017-18 after pouring a drink over England bowler James Anderson.

The break in Noosa was arranged before the tour and went ahead despite England falling 2-0 behind after two Tests.

While the entire squad were present in Noosa, former Kent and England batter Key was in another part of Queensland.

Players were told to expect media attention and were captured by TV cameras and photographers.

That included shots of some players drinking at an outside table of a bar on the main high street in the town.

“When you see a picture of five or six guys sitting down for lunch, a couple of them having drinks, you need to see what’s going on with that,” said Key.

“If it’s true that it became a stag do and people are out drinking all the time excessively, that’s not acceptable.

“I don’t agree with a drinking culture. I don’t like a drinking culture.”

Former Australia batter and head coach Darren Lehmann told Australian radio station ABC he spent time with some England players in Noosa.

“They were actually really well behaved. They mixed with the locals and had a good time,” he said.

“The reports of them on a stag do are just wrong. I will defend them there.

“They played golf, swam on the beach and played soccer with the locals – they were liked by the locals.

“I will defend them a little bit because it is a little bit out of order. I didn’t see a stag do. I saw people just relaxing and enjoying Noosa for what it is.”

Key said he previously looked into reports that white-ball captain Harry Brook and batter Jacob Bethell were drinking the night before a match on the limited-overs tour of New Zealand that preceded the Ashes.

A clip of Brook and Bethell was shared on social media, reportedly taken in Wellington the night before the third one-day international on 1 November.

“I didn’t feel like that was worthy of formal warnings, but it was probably worthy of informal ones,” said Key.

“There wasn’t any formal action. We’ve had four years where we’ve had none of these issues really, with any of the players, and there’s a whole process that we put in place for stuff like that – for what you do if they’re out of line.

“That was a bit of a wake-up call 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.”

Despite the questions over the behaviour of some players in Noosa, Key defended their right to take the break from the Ashes.

Brook, Bethell, Ben Duckett, Jofra Archer and others could spend almost six months away from home following the tours of New Zealand, Australia, and the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka in the new year.

“Harry Brook is going to only be at home for six days this entire winter,” said Key.

“We have to create a time where these players can get away from cricket because they’re not going to do it by being at home.

“We live in an age as well where it’s impossible to avoid cricket. I sit there on my phone and every Instagram thing comes up. I know that players say they shouldn’t look at it, but they do.

“You can’t escape cricket, especially on an Ashes series and the scrutiny. Getting away and being able to just forget about that and live like a normal person is really important.”

Paul Farbrace, who was part of England’s coaching staff for the 4-0 Ashes defeat in 2017-18, said the Australian media are “so in your face” but that the tourists were “dopey” by drinking publicly in Noosa.

He told BBC Radio 5 Live: “The Australian media cause as much issue for the England cricket team as they possibly can.

“The pressure from everyone around is intense and immense and you do need a break.

“But going to sit in a middle of a high street with lots of people, right near the beach, drinking beers from lunchtime is not a good look.

“They could have done it in private at their hotel or away from the glaring public eye.

“It just adds to the narrative around this team that they are a very arrogant group of people and don’t care what people think about them.

“They do care about winning, but they’ve given so many headlines to so many people. All they’ve done is set themselves up for a fall and it really is a great shame.

“England are where they deserve to be in this series, but their drinking has not cost them the series – that’s the bottom line.”