ECB inquest into drinking culture

The eCB plan a full inquiry into the culture of the england team as they try to ensure there will be no repeat of the shameful scenes that saw cricket’s reputation dragged through the gutter at Bristol Crown Court.

The governing body will ask all players and support staff to have a hard look at their behaviour to make sure they are not letting down the image of cricket.

The last thing english cricket needs is for the not-guilty verdict on a charge of affray for Ben Stokes to be interpreted as a green light to carry on lengthy drinking sessions late into the night while on international duty.

The message that things had to change did not get through to the england team in the immediate aftermath of Stokes’s night out in Bristol last September that still leaves him and Alex hales facing probable charges of bringing cricket into disrepute.

Twice during the last Ashes tour a large group of players had late nights out in Perth that led to controversial incidents involving Jonny Bairstow, Ben Duckett and Jimmy Anderson.

It was only when former captain and senior professional Alastair Cook addressed the team in Australia to remind them ‘our world has changed’ that it sank in with some that they could not go out regularly drinking to excess.

Now that message is to be given officially with england coach Trevor Bayliss sure to raise the subject when he faces the media at Trent Bridge today after welcoming Stokes back to the dressing room.

The key to what will happen now came in the second part of the eCB statement on Tuesday that signalled the controversial decision to rush Stokes back into the squad to face India in the third Test on Saturday.

‘Considerable detail has been heard in this week-long court case,’ said the statement, ‘and in due course there will be a range of matters for the board to consider.’

That means not only that the eCB-appointed but independent cricket discipline commission (CDC) will almost certainly charge Stokes and hales, despite the not-guilty verdict in a court of law. It also indicates that change is afoot.

‘It will include everybody involved with the team,’ said a source. ‘It is fair to say everyone will have to have a look at themselves and how they behave.’

Sportsmail revealed earlier this year that the curfew imposed on the england team in Australia last winter was extended to the subsequent New Zealand tour and that is sure to continue when england go to Sri Lanka and the West Indies this year.

A restriction on players going out has not been in place officially this summer as it is hard to enforce when they are at home, but there has been a significant reduction already in the number of late nights out around Tests.

Now, with Stokes off the hook legally and back in the england fold, attention within the game will focus on hales. It was said in court that he aimed a kick at the head of co- defendant Ryan Ali while embroiled in the fracas with Stokes. It was even suggested by Stokes’s defence counsel that it could have been hales who had fractured Ali’s eye socket in the brawl and not his client. But Notts batsman hales was neither charged nor called as a witness.

There are those within the england set-up who were annoyed that hales took a taxi back to the team hotel after Stokes had been arrested and delayed reporting the incident to management and security advisor Reg Dickason.

And with Stokes having already missed the Ashes and the whole of a one-day series against Australia, there will be those who are waiting to see if one-day batsman hales receives a comparable punishment from the CDC.

Meanwhile, there is considerable frustration at the possibility that the commission, to be chaired by former Derbyshire batsman Tim O’Gorman, will not be set up until the autumn — even though the dates of Stokes’s court case have long been known.

It has not escaped notice that last winter the eCB said the commission would sit within 48 hours of the court verdict when it was perceived Stokes would have a chance of being rushed to Australia for the Ashes.

Now there is a series against India to win, the eCB are seemingly in less of a hurry to make sure disciplinary justice is meted out to their two miscreants.