England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said on Monday that it is investigating captain Ben Stokes and fast bowler Gus Atkinson over an undisclosed “incident” in a “nightclub in the early hours of Monday morning”. ECB said that it was investigating “a breach of team protocols” in the hours after England beat New Zealand by 115 runs in the first Test at Lord’s.
“The ECB is currently investigating a breach of team protocols following the conclusion of the first Men’s Test against New Zealand. Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson were present at a nightclub in the early hours of Monday morning when an incident took place,” said the board in a statement on Monday
“We are currently seeking further information, and an announcement regarding the squad for the second Test will be made in due course. The Cricket Regulator has been informed and we will provide a further update when possible.”
Stokes had said after the match that he was aware of how much England would’ve been criticised had they failed to win the first Test, before stating he is looking forwarding having a “proper beer with the boys.”
“I knew how big this game was in terms of the result and how it was going to be perceived externally if it didn’t go well, but now it’s gone well,” Stokes said. “I probably won’t be real happy and smiling until I get up there and share a proper beer with the boys.”
Recent incidents in Australia and New Zealand
The development comes months after England’s off-field behaviour came under heavy scrutiny during their tours of New Zealand and Australia late last year. England were accused of having a “drinking culture” in their dressing room, with their behaviour during a controversial mid-series break during a rather disastrous Ashes in Australia especially coming under scrutiny.
It later emerged that England’s limited-overs captain Harry Brook was involved in an incident in a nightclub during the tour of New Zealand that happened before the Ashes. The fact that the incident had happened on the night before the third match of a series that England had already lost 2-0 and went on to be swept clean 3-0 only added more fuel to the fire. Moreover, the news came out in the form of a leak more than a month later while England were struggling to compete with Australia in the Ashes and the ECB had quietly investigated the incident internally and reprimanded Brook.
England went on to lose the 4-1, making more than a decade since they last held the covetted urn, after which England’s managing director Rob Key said that he will investigate England players’ conduct during their mid-Ashes break in Noosa and if the team did indeed drink excessively.
“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 had said. “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. But from everything that I’ve heard so far, they were very well behaved.”
