{"id":633190,"date":"2026-06-11T14:25:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T14:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/633190\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T14:25:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T14:25:09","slug":"englands-cricketers-could-face-alcohol-ban-with-stokes-captaincy-still-in-doubt-england-cricket-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/633190\/","title":{"rendered":"England\u2019s cricketers could face alcohol ban with Stokes captaincy still in doubt | England cricket team"},"content":{"rendered":"

The England and Wales Cricket Board is considering imposing a complete ban on alcohol while players are on international duty as they ponder the best response to the incident at a Chelsea nightclub that led to Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson being dropped<\/a> for next week\u2019s second Test against New Zealand, and to the stream of embarrassing stories over the past eight months.<\/p>\n

Rob Key, the ECB\u2019s managing director of men\u2019s cricket, admitted on Thursday that it is now hard to say the players can show they are to be trusted to behave responsibly. The two players broke a midnight curfew and were then allegedly involved in a fight that broke out in the early hours of Monday morning, though there is no suggestion that either were active participants. \u201cEverything we\u2019ve looked at so far, everything we\u2019ve found out, it looks like they were in the wrong place at the wrong time,\u201d Key said. \u201cThey weren\u2019t aggressive or anything, and actually it looks like they were on the receiving end of some pretty poor behaviour from other people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The curfew was imposed after the Ashes and runs throughout this Test series \u2013 part of new player protocols which the ECB insists were communicated orally to the players on multiple occasions and more formally to the Team England Player Partnership<\/a>, which is operated by the Professional Cricketers\u2019 Association and negotiates \u201cthe scope and nature of the England players\u2019 duties\u201d. Atkinson\u2019s position is that he was unaware of the curfew, but Stokes had been deeply involved in the decision to impose one. Key said that on learning about the incident on Monday morning: \u201cThe overriding [reaction] was shock that it was Ben involved in this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stokes\u2019s future both as captain and as a player remains uncertain. Asked on Thursday about the 35-year-old\u2019s ability to return to the side Key said: \u201cI don\u2019t see why not\u201d; when pressed about the captaincy he was less forthcoming. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to run the investigation, find out what happened exactly,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the decision is about what\u2019s best for the team and what\u2019s best for Ben as well. It\u2019s not just about what happened on Sunday night, it\u2019s about the best thing moving forward. We need time, because that\u2019s a big decision.\u201d Stokes has been given time to consider his future but the ECB has not sought to influence his decision.<\/p>\n

During the Ashes, Key denied that the England team had an unhealthy drinking culture, but that messaging has now changed. \u201cDo we need to look at actually have the [regulations] been strict enough? Even when they win a game of cricket, is it now a time when there\u2019s just no alcohol at any time and at any stage?\u201d he said. \u201cI need to think through these things because I don\u2019t want to make a rash decision that actually hinders the team, and creates a situation where they don\u2019t feel they can do anything. But the players now have to show the public that they can be trusted. At this point it\u2019s hard to say they can.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have spent a lot of time over the past few months trying to make sure we\u2019re going to regain the trust [of the public]. I\u2019m not sure we\u2019ve done that. In fact, I know we haven\u2019t done that with what\u2019s happened here. All the things we have been working on, every single thing, whether it\u2019s within the dressing-room, within that side, all the work we\u2019ve tried to do to reconnect the game \u2013 it feels like we\u2019ve just been smashed in the face with that. When you look at what has happened it\u2019s hard to defend anything that\u2019s going on at the moment. I believe that we are on the right path, and that is really hard for me to be able to prove. We will be judged by our actions going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe Root (right) will step in as interim captain for the second Test after Ben Stokes was dropped. \u2018When English cricket\u2019s in a hole, Joe Root\u2019s the man we ask to dig us out,\u2019 Rob Key said. Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

The decision to appoint Joe Root as interim captain in Stokes\u2019s absence, rather than promote his vice-captain Harry Brook, was taken for various reasons of which Brook\u2019s own nightclub incident, which saw him get punched by a bouncer on the night before an ODI last November, was \u201cnot the main one, that\u2019s for sure\u201d. Key reported that Brook \u201chas no issue whatsoever\u201d with the decision. \u201cThere\u2019s lots of different factors why we went for Joe Root,\u201d Key said, \u201cbut ultimately, when English cricket\u2019s in a hole, Joe Root\u2019s the man that we ask to dig us out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Key insisted this controversy should not detract from a period in which \u201cBen has been outstanding\u201d as a captain, while Brendon McCullum has \u201cbeen outstanding in the way he\u2019s led this side as a coach\u201d. \u201cI think that they are [one] of the most successful coach and captain partnerships we\u2019ve had,\u201d Key said. \u201cThis is one of the more successful England teams and that\u2019s what I like to reflect on. And it\u2019s not anywhere near the end of it. This team, with the bowling attack that looks like it\u2019s in play in the next few years, can be one of the best we\u2019ve had.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The England and Wales Cricket Board is considering imposing a complete ban on alcohol while players are on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-633190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}