England cricket team placed on booze ban, midnight curfew
Will Macpherson
England cricketers were told not to drink even the day after the match.
England imposed midnight curfew after 4-1 Ashes defeat; this was marred by stories of players drinking; Harry Brook in particular was punched by a bouncer hours before captaining the team in Wellington in November.
But after the first Test of the summer, which England won, Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson stayed out after midnight at the Rex Rooms on the King’s Road in west London; where a Saracens academy rugby player “attacked” Atkinson, injuring England’s fullback James Shaw in the process.
This infuriated England’s hierarchy, but it emerged that Atkinson did not know the curfew was in place and there was further confusion over when it would be imposed and its full enactment.
Stokes and Atkinson, who had not witnessed the incident, were left out of the squad for the next Test at the Oval, but returned for the series decider at Trent Bridge, where Stokes retired. Following legal wrangling, Britain said the pair had “breached certain contractual obligations” rather than punishing them for breaking the curfew.
In the days following the incident, general manager Rob Key floated the idea of banning alcohol altogether. Key didn’t go that far but updated the alcohol policy and shared it with the players between the first and second Test. It also includes adjustments to the policy applied to players on the white-ball tour played in Sri Lanka and India earlier this year. Atkinson was not on that tour.
The first part of the new policy states that each day of the England men’s home series and tour:
- Midnight curfew in effect
- Players cannot appear under the influence of alcohol in public or post about “alcohol-related materials or activities” on social media.
- Players must notify team management or security if they leave the hotel after 22:00, including any changes of plans.
The new policy continues in the second part:
- “Also from the day before the start of any match until the end of the day after its conclusion.”
- “We recommend not consuming alcohol”
- Players cannot drink in public, including common areas of the team hotel, unless “specifically approved by Key or head coach Brendon McCullum.”
- It is “strongly not recommended” for players to consume alcohol specifically during this period because “preparation, recovery and professionalism must be a priority”.
The England and Wales Cricket Board has confirmed that if a match ends on the fifth day, the above rules and advice will apply until the end of the sixth day.
The document signed by Key states that the aim is to “protect players, the reputation of cricket in England and Wales and the ECB, and to optimize player performance”.
It also tightened wording on some issues. Advising players not to consume alcohol even after matches have finished is a significant change in English cricket; Drinking after the test is a common occurrence. The recommendation in the first edition of the policy was valid only until the end of the match.
There are other adjustments as the ECB tries to tighten policy. In the first episode, “Every day of the UK lads’ series/tour” became “Every day of the UK lads’ series/tour”.
It seems to be management’s gift to change policy as they see fit over the course of a series. When England had a lockdown between 2017 and 2022, it was regularly lifted after Test victory to allow players to let their hair down. Following the Trent Bridge Test and Stokes’ retirement, England’s official social media account posted a photo of the captain holding a bottle of beer, suggesting the players might have been drinking at this point.
The Rex Rooms saga became a crisis that Stokes admitted contributed to the retirement he was considering during the Lord’s Test. This has made Key and McCullum’s positions more precarious and means England need a new Test captain, with white-ball captain Brook and veteran Joe Root stepping up to the Oval the only realistic candidates.
Telegraph, London
