England’s cricketers lay out ‘sensible’ drinking rules for Ashes series

England’s cricket players have reportedly decided on “sensible” drinking rules for their trip to Australia as part of the 2017/18 Ashes series.

The England coach, Trevor Bayliss told the BBC’s ‘Test Match Special’ programme that while no curfews would be imposed on the players during the nearly three month-long tour of Australia and nor would alcohol be banned outright, they would be expected not to drink in the days immediately prior to the five test matches.

“I think they’re just sensible rulings,” Bayliss told TMS. “To me they’re what we should be sticking to anyway as a player or someone around a professional set-up.”

Alcohol has been the source of a number of problems for England’s cricketers in the recent past, the most current being this September when Ben Stokes was arrested following an “incident” in Bristol after a one-day international against the West Indies.

Video footage later emerged showing Stokes knocking a man to the ground outside a nightclub after what had apparently been a long binge.

Captain Joe Root, in addressing the issue, denied there was a ‘drinking culture’ or problem within the team but added they would sit down to discuss how best to make sure alcohol didn’t mar their tour.

All-rounder Stokes meanwhile, although initially named as part of the squad, was subsequently dropped when the footage of the brawl emerged.

Cricket, indeed sport in general, has had its fair share of legendary boozes and binges that occasionally blemish and at other times enhance the reputation of a particular player.

Notable cricketing boozers include Australians Rod Marsh and David Boon who both set records for the number of beers consumed on the flight to England in the 1980s.

Marsh set the record with 51 beers but his teammate Boon beat him in 1989 with 52, though the pilot apparently had to add in a few loops to give him extra time to do so – though Boon, unlike Marsh, then walked off the plane under his own steam.

During the same era, meanwhile, England legend Sir Ian Botham set a fearsome pace of his own, including a spectacularly boozy but victorious series against India in 1980 during the course of which he set the best all-round performance of his career while drinking swimming-pool sized cocktails, smuggled Aussie beer and copious quantities of brandy after each day’s rip-roaring performance.