Rob Key has defended England’s mid-tour break in Noosa but confirmed he will look into reports that excessive drinking by players in between the second and third Ashes Tests turned it into a “glorified stag do”.
Sitting 3-0 to Australia, the Ashes having gone, team director Key has followed head coach Brendon McCullum in stating that his future now rests in the hands of senior figures at the England and Wales Cricket Board.
Among the questions that will be asked in a post-series review is whether the four-night break on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast best prepared them for the pivotal Adelaide Test. According to the BBC, a number of players spent six days drinking, having begun after the eight-wicket defeat in Brisbane.
“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,” Key said. “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.”
Key had already ticked off two players – white-ball captain Harry Brook and Jacob Bethell – after they were photographed drinking the night before the final ODI of the New Zealand white-ball tour that came before this tour.
But the concept of giving the team a mid-series break is something Key has insisted was necessary, citing the packed international schedule and the intense media scrutiny that comes with playing Test cricket in Australia.
Key said: “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.”
In terms of the actual cricket played, Key conceded Australia’s vast superiority with the ball – “I don’t think it’s about we took the wrong bowlers on this trip. I just think they haven’t been consistent enough” – and admitted some players may have been persisted with for too long in the series.
No individual was named here, but Ollie Pope may now miss the Boxing Day Test. There was also an acceptance that playing white-ball cricket in New Zealand in early season conditions – despite the need for World Cup qualification ranking points – potentially affected a player like Ben Duckett.
As for preparation in Australia, Key stressed the two options given by England’s hosts were club grounds in Adelaide or Perth – they opted for the latter – but, crucially, there was no access to the Waca Ground that India used as a training base 12 months earlier before winning at Perth Stadium. Not that doing so, Key stressed, would have guaranteed a different outcome.
On his own future, and that of McCullum, Key said: “As far as I’m concerned, that’s out of my hands really. You don’t mind losing, the regret is that you’ve not played anything like your best really. For me, it’s just focusing on that.
“The decision really for the ECB will be whether or not they want to rip it up and start again, or whether they want to evolve and whether we’re the right people to do that. Clearly, I believe that Brendon, from a coaching point of view, I think he’s an excellent coach. I think this is only the third Test series we’ve lost in four years.
“Clearly we’ve mucked up on the big occasions, whether that was the home Ashes series [in 2023], or last summer’s [2-2] draw against India where we should have won that series as well. The big ones have eluded us.
“I still feel like there’s plenty of life in this whole thing but we have to evolve. We have to make sure that we’re doing things better. That’s my view on it. As you know, these things are taken out of people’s hands a lot of the time.”
