England consider booze ban after Ben Stokes incident leaves senior figures in disbelief

England’s managing director Rob Key was shocked and angry when he discovered Ben Stokes was involved in a nightclub altercation in the early hours of Monday.

Captain Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson broke the team’s midnight curfew and were present when a member of England’s security staff was struck by Saracens rugby player Totoa Auvaa. 

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They are not thought to have been the aggressors as they celebrated a win over New Zealand in the first Test at Lord’s.

The pair have since been dropped for the second Test.

Stokes is believed to be considering his position as England Test captain and there is speculation he could even retire amid the fallout.

talkSPORT was told by cricket reporter George Dobell on Tuesday that the most likely scenario was the 35-year-old would step down.

Speaking to talkSPORT, Key said: “I’ll tell you exactly where we are at the moment. Everyone is just taking a little bit of time. 

“The process and the investigation are ongoing and we don’t feel it’s the right thing for Ben Stokes or Gus Atkinson to be available for selection for the next Test match.

“So neither of them will play in that, and the investigation is ongoing from there.”

Key continued: “I’ve spoken a lot to Ben from Monday onwards, really — every day. When I found out about this, I was shocked, because Ben and I have spent a long time over the last three months together trying to work out and plot the way forward for this team. He’s been an integral part of that.

“So when I heard it was him who was involved in breaking protocols, I genuinely couldn’t believe it. 

“Then there’s a huge amount of anger, and I’m not sure I’m over that at the moment, but there’s also concern for Ben because of what we’ve been through over the last few months. There has to be a reason for this, and that’s what we’re trying to find out now.

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“We’re just supporting him as much as we can. He hasn’t intimated anything, and we’re just going to let time and the process take its course. We’ll find out everything in due course.”

England’s drinking culture?

Key also admitted it is hard to deny there is a drinking culture among the England cricket team after this incident.

White ball captain, and Test vice-captain, Harry Brook was ‘clocked’ by a bouncer in New Zealand, with Jacob Bethell and Josh Tongue present. 

Ben Duckett was also filmed by a member of the public in Noosa while seemingly very drunk.

This led to a curfew being introduced by the leadership team that Stokes is part of.

Seemingly at the first opportunity, this was flouted in Monday morning’s incident.

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Former Kent and England batter Key also hinted that a booze ban could be enforced.

Key said: “This is why this is so frustrating. We have worked so hard to try and make sure we can go out there and play the way we did in that first Test match against what is a very strong New Zealand team.

“To go out there, play what’s in front of them, and take on a bowling attack that is still yet to come of age — what I thought I saw on the pitch was a team that’s really evolving. So much of the work was starting to come to fruition.

“But it’s hard to defend that in terms of drinking culture and things like that because of what’s happened. I still have optimism about this side and where it’s going, and the way it behaves — every single individual in that group. Two people made a mistake.

“It’s not the first time as well for this side, and we’ve got to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

When asked if he feels in control of the team, Key added: “Yeah, because often it’s about what you do out on the field and the way they’ve gone about their game, the way they’ve carried themselves in the lead-up to that game, and the way we’ve done things over the last few months.

“I think we’re a team and a set-up that has really learned from those mistakes and is starting to come of age in terms of the on-field stuff.

“There are still things I need to think about. Now is not the time for me to be making those decisions because of the emotion I have around this situation.

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“But I need to look at what it is. Do we need to be tougher on these things? With the protocols that we’ve put in, should it be the case that they’re drinking after a game, even if they win? Even if you think these are grown men who can make good decisions, they need to show us — myself in this management position, as well as the ECB — that they can be trusted.

“At the moment, they don’t look like that.”

England captain decision

Stokes being omitted from the second Test also gave the England management a headache over who to make captain.

Vice captain Brook would be the natural choice, but the optics of that would be poor given the previously mentioned incident last winter.

Joe Root has been given the job for the second Test. It remains to be seen if Stokes will return to that role.

Key said: “There have been a number of us speaking about that. Brendon McCullum and myself, in particular, are probably the main people who would sit around and talk about that. 

“We obviously take counsel from Richard Gould and other people in our performance department as well, in terms of what the right thing to do is, as well as speaking to Joe and Harry.

“In this situation, I believe this is the right thing to do. This is the right decision. It doesn’t feel like now is the right time for Harry Brook to be taking this job on in the interim.

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“We’ve got things like a massive white-ball series coming up, which we need Harry to get his head around, as well as him being one of our best batters and trying to win us a Test series against this New Zealand team. There are so many factors that go into it. You try and look at every single angle, and this is where we came out.

“Obviously, Harry Brook has a recent history and all those things have been considered in this decision. English cricket is so lucky — I’ve said this before, and I don’t think anyone, certainly we don’t, realises just how lucky we are to have Joe Root. Yet again, English cricket is in a hole and Joe Root has got to bail us out of it.”