England to investigate reports of players drinking excessively during Ashes break

England will investigate reports of players drinking excessively during a break from the Ashes series in the beach town of Noosa.

The England squad spent four nights on the Queensland coast between the second and third Tests.

Several outlets, including the BBC, reported that some players were drinking for a significant portion of their time in Noosa, as well as on two previous days in Brisbane, the venue for the second Test.

Although they returned an improved performance in the third Test in Adelaide, England were beaten to ensure they cannot win back the Ashes from Australia.

The home side have taken an unassailable 3-0 lead in only 11 days of cricket.

England director of cricket Rob Key told BBC Sport: “Headlines can be misleading at times, saying it’s a stag do and stuff like that.

“Stories of players drinking six days solid – that’s unacceptable. We’ll be looking into seeing what the facts are as opposed to the things that have been embellished or elaborated on.”

The break in Noosa was arranged in advance of the Ashes tour and went ahead despite England falling 2-0 behind after two Tests.

While the entire squad was present in Noosa, former Kent and England batter Key was in another part of Queensland.

Players were told to expect media attention and they were captured by TV cameras and photographers.

That included shots of some members of the squad drinking at an outside table of a bar on the main high street in the town.

“When you see a picture of five or six guys sitting down for lunch, a couple of them having drinks, you need to see what’s going on with that,” said Key.

“If it’s true that it became a stag do and people are out drinking all the time excessively, that’s not acceptable. I don’t agree with a drinking culture. I don’t like a drinking culture.”

Key also said he previously looked into reports that white-ball captain Harry Brook and batter Jacob Bethell were drinking the night before a match on the limited-overs tour of New Zealand that preceded the Ashes.

A clip of Brook and Bethell was shared on social media, reportedly taken in Wellington the night before the third one-day international on 1 November.

“I didn’t feel like that was worthy of formal warnings, but it was probably worthy of informal ones,” said Key.

“There wasn’t any formal action. We’ve had four years where we’ve had none of these issues really, with any of the players, and there’s a whole process that we put in place for stuff like that – for what you do if they’re out of line.

“That was a bit of a wake-up call 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.”

Despite the questions over the behaviour of some players in Noosa, Key defended their right to take the break from the Ashes.

Brook, Bethell, Ben Duckett, Jofra Archer and others could spend almost six months away from home following the tours of New Zealand, Australia, and the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka in the new year.

“Harry Brook is going to only be at home for six days this entire winter,” said Key.

“We have to create a time where these players can get away from cricket because they’re not going to do it by being at home.

“We live in an age as well where it’s impossible to avoid cricket. I sit there on my phone and every Instagram thing comes up. I know that players say they shouldn’t look at it, but they do.

“You can’t escape cricket, especially on an Ashes series and the scrutiny. Getting away and being able to just forget about that and live like a normal person is really important.”