England Cricket Board reportedly considering reinstating player curfew after Ashes hammering

After a boozed-up Ashes hammering, England are reportedly considering a player curfew for their upcoming white-ball tour of the subcontinent as they look to address the team’s drinking culture.

As an Australian tour that began with so much hope turned into an all too familiar Ashes nightmare, much was made of their off-field antics, particularly their ‘glorified stag-do’ in Noosa after the second Test, which, according to the BBC, was six straight days of drinking despite being 2-0 down.

Footage emerged of opener Ben Duckett in a bewildered state outside of a resort, as the tourists made no efforts to keep their drinking habits private.

There were also reports of significant drinking in Perth after the two-day Test, with many players hitting the tables at Crown Casino in ‘well-oiled’ states while their attempts to sweep Harry Brook’s bouncer altercation in New Zealand under the carpet have blown up spectacularly.

Just hours after their 4-1 series defeat had been confirmed, it was revealed that white-ball captain and Test vice-captain Brook was denied entry into a nightclub the night before a One-Day game in November and got into an altercation with a bouncer.

He was fined 30,000 pounds and released a statement apologising for his actions, but with a seven-week tour of Sri Lanka and India, including the T20 World Cup, which Brook will captain, on the horizon, it appears change is on the way.

With the England Cricket Board already launching a review into the Ashes, focusing on their planning, or lack thereof, and individual behaviours, a reinstatement of a curfew is on the cards until their investigation is complete.

Former managing director of cricket, Andrew Strauss, brought in a midnight curfew ahead of the 2017-18 Ashes series after Johnny Bairstow allegedly head-butted Cameron Bancroft just weeks after Ben Stokes got caught up in an incident outside a Bristol nightclub that saw him miss the series.

Stokes scrapped the curfew shortly after becoming Test captain in 2022 as part of Brendan McCullum’s more relaxed attitude to player management.

McCullum has rejected notions that there is a drinking culture within the England set-up, and even suggested “maybe there is someone better” to run the England team if too many constraints are thrust upon him.