"Cricket Has Created This": Ex-England Captain's Stunning Take On Mid-Ashes Drinking Row

England's reported mid-Ashes drinking-gate has soured what has already been a tour to forget in Australia. Several reports claimed some England players spent as many as six days drinking between the second and third Ashes Tests, particularly during their four-day break at the Noosa beach resort. A video of England opener Ben Duckett seemingly drunk and unable to find his way back to the team hotel has gone viral on social media. Reflecting on it, former England captain Michael Vaughan has refused to pin the blame on Duckett, instead stating that cricket suffers from a "drinking culture".

"I am not going to point the finger at a group of young people who have had a few beers on a couple of days off. I did exactly the same as them when I played for England, although I did at least know when it was time to go home and that is probably what Ben Duckett needs to learn," Vaughan wrote in his column for The Telegraph.

Vaughan stated that cricketers from nations like England, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa all suffer from a drinking culture.

"Duckett should not be reprimanded at all on the evidence we have seen and neither should the other players because it is a wider issue: the game of cricket has created this drinking culture. England, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa all have the same culture," Vaughan wrote.

"You give a group of young people three or four days off to relax and they are going to do something like this," he added.

Vaughan, instead, criticised England's Ashes preparation. Vaughan, who led England to a famous Ashes series win in 2005, slammed the fact that the trip to Noosa had been booked well in advance, but no prior plan had been made for warm-up games.

"The thing about Noosa is that it was booked a year ago. But they did not book the Waca a year ago. How did they not prepare for a bouncy pitch leading into a first Test, but at the same time had booked their holiday in Noosa?" questioned Vaughan.

"They also do not have a fielding coach on tour and are dropping catches. They have a spin-bowling coach but do not pick the spinner. They have reduced the role of data analysis. They have got to be better at the attention to detail, but attention to detail is boring," he further wrote.

England take on Australia in the fourth Ashes Test on Boxing Day - Friday, December 26.

Topics mentioned in this article

Michael Vaughan Ben Duckett Ben Stokes Robert Key Brendon McCullum England Cricket Team Australia vs England, Ashes 2025-26 Cricket