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England players celebrate an Australian wicket in the third Ashes Test. (PHOTO: AP)
England cricket’s managing director Rob Key, who broke his silence on the Ashes defeat on Tuesday, has revealed they will investigate their players conduct during a four-day break between the second and third Test in Noosa. Key then went on to add that drinking heavily is ‘completely unacceptable’ for an international cricket team.
After losing the second Test at Brisbane, England took a break before the start of the third Test in Adelaide, heading to Queensland’s coast to revive the atmosphere. While Key defended the break taken by the team, following reports of players being involved in heavy drinking, questions are being raised if the team prepared well for the third Test at Adelaide.
According to a report in BBC, “some members of the team followed two days of drinking in Brisbane with four more in Noosa — six in total, as many days as there had been of Test cricket at this point in the tour.”
England’s Jofra Archer, centre, is congratulated by teammates after taking five wickets during play on day two of the third Ashes cricket test between England and Australia in Adelaide, Australia, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)
The report further stated that: “The England party was hardly inconspicuous, drinking by the side of the road, with plenty wearing traditional Akubra hats that became the uniform of the holiday.”
And speaking about the incident Key said, “If there’s things where people are saying that our players went out and drank excessively then of course we’ll be looking into that. I’m not a drinker. Drinking excessive amounts of alcohol for an international cricket team is not something that I’d expect to see at any stage. We’ve added security. We’ve got enough ways of finding out exactly what happened. And everything that I’ve heard so far is that they sat down, had lunch, had dinner and didn’t go out late and had the odd drink. I don’t mind that.”
Before landing in Australia for the Ashes, England had already ticket off two players Harry Brook and Jacob Bethel after the duo were spotted drinking in New Zealand, the night before the final ODI. And Key said having a break in between the series is absolutely necessary.
“Harry Brook is going to spend six days at home this entire winter. Jofra Archer will go through to the World Cup and the Indian Premier League. So I think it’s so important that these players, especially multi-format players, can get away and live a normal life. [But] if it goes into where they’re drinking lots and it’s a stag do, that’s completely unacceptable. I think a drinking culture doesn’t help anyone in any stretch whatsoever. [But] I have no issue with Noosa if it was to get away and just throw your phone away, down tools, go on the beach, all of that stuff.”
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