England's cricketers will be subject to a midnight curfew for the remainder of the winter following a series of disciplinary incidents during the Ashes and the preceding New Zealand tour. The squad, led by Harry Brook, were due to depart London on Sunday for Sri Lanka, where they will play white-ball series before the T20 World Cup next month.
According to Daily Mail Sport, players will be reminded of their responsibilities upon arrival in Colombo, with a key guideline being that they must return to the team hotel by midnight unless otherwise agreed. This measure comes after multiple drinking-related episodes marred the 3-0 ODI defeat to New Zealand and the 4-1 Ashes loss in Australia.
During a six-day break in Noosa, video footage emerged of an inebriated Ben Duckett appearing disoriented late at night. There were also reports of heavy drinking by England players in Perth, where they stayed in a casino hotel. Additionally, Harry Brook was fined the maximum £30,000 after an altercation with a nightclub bouncer in Wellington, narrowly avoiding losing the white-ball captaincy.
The curfew was previously introduced by Andrew Strauss after an alleged head-butt by Jonny Bairstow on Australia's Cameron Bancroft ahead of the 2017-18 Ashes. However, it was scrapped by Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, who favoured allowing players to make their own choices. The England hierarchy now hope the curfew will prevent further issues while avoiding the siege mentality seen during the Covid era.
In other changes, Carl Hopkinson returns as fielding coach for the T20 leg of the Sri Lanka tour and the World Cup, after England dropped 17 catches against Australia. David Saker will continue as bowling consultant for the 50-over series before Tim Southee takes over. McCullum's assistants Marcus Trescothick and Jeetan Patel remain in their roles.
