England cricketers to be investigated for drinking too much during Ashes break

England’s managing director of men’s cricket, Rob Key, has said that he will investigate the drinking habits of the England team following reports that its mid-Ashes beach break may have involved over-indulging in alcohol.

England lost the first three Tests to allow Australia to retain the Ashes 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.

Key, who did not join the players in Noosa, said he had no problem with the break, but would not be happy if he found evidence of over-indulging.

A BBC report had claimed that some members of the squad had six days of drinking, more than half of the total number of days (11) spent in playing Tests in the series.

“If there are 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 Jacob 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 November 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.”

Published on Dec 23, 2025