A video has emerged online of England opener Ben Duckett appearing intoxicated on a night out during the ongoing Ashes tour.
In the video, which is circulating on X – formerly Twitter – Duckett is seen alone and being asked if he needs any assistance to get back safely.
It is unclear when the video was taken but during the conversation one England fan states ‘we’re losing 2-0’, indicating that it may have been between the second and third Test of the current series.
Australia won the second Test at The Gabba in Brisbane by eight wickets on December 7 and the third Test in Adelaide didn’t start until December 17 – meaning there was a ten-day window in which the video could have been recorded.
The tourists spent four days between the Tests in the holiday resort of Noosa on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast – known for its stunning beaches – as they looked to get away from the rigours of an Ashes tour and come back rejuvenated.
But the break was in vain as England lost at the Adelaide Oval by 82 runs to trail the Ashes series 3-0 and surrender the urn with two Tests still to play. Duckett is averaging 16.16 runs during his six innings so far, with his highest score being 29.
In the video, three passersby ask Duckett if he wants them to order him an Uber home.
Asked if he knows where he is staying, the 31-year-old replies: ‘No’.
A male England fan teases Duckett and says ‘Do you want me to get you an Uber to the nets, bro’ – mocking England’s poor batting displays in the first two Tests.
Duckett’s retort is to call him a ‘p***k’ and say ‘no one knows who you are’.
Slurring his words, the left-hander opener then confirms who he is.
In a short statement an ECB spokesperson told Daily Mail Sport: ‘We are aware of content circulating on social media.
‘We have high expectations for behaviour, accepting that players are often under intense levels of scrutiny, with established processes that we follow when conduct falls below expectations. We also support players that need assistance.
‘We will not comment further at this stage while we establish the facts.’
The emergence of the video comes hours after England launched an investigation into claims that their Noosa trip turned into a beer-drinking stag-do.
Managing director Rob Key insisted the players were on their best behaviour during, but said the reports of heavy boozing would be looked into, and admitted: ‘Drinking excessive amounts of alcohol for an international cricket team is not something I’d expect to see at any stage.’
He added: ‘If they’re drinking lots and it’s a stag-do, all that type of stuff, that’s completely unacceptable.
‘I’m not a drinker, and I think a drinking culture doesn’t help anyone in any stretch whatsoever.
‘I have no issue with the Noosa trip if it was to get away and just throw your phone away, down tools, go on the beach.
‘We’ve added security, and we’ve got enough ways of finding out exactly what happened.
‘Everything I’ve heard so far is that they sat down, had lunch, had dinner, didn’t go out late, had the odd drink. I don’t mind that.
‘If it goes past that, then that’s an issue, as far as I’m concerned.’
With the fourth Test starting in Melbourne on Boxing Day, and England fighting to avoid a third 5–0 whitewash in six trips to Australia, the Noosa trip is an unwanted distraction, with the headlines sure to have raised eyebrows among ECB officials back at Lord’s.
The alleged incident of Duckett comes after he was sent home from England’s 2017-18 Ashes tour of Australia for pouring a drink over team-mate James Anderson.
Duckett, then 23 and playing for the England Lions, was suspended for the rest of the tour after the incident as well as given a fine and final written warning.
Then-England coach Trevor Bayliss described it as ‘trivial’ but team management were left furious at another off-field misdemeanour.
It saw England impose a midnight curfew on the tour – after a string of previous incidents – but opening up on it last year Duckett revealed he was not the instigator.
‘Jimmy actually threw a drink on me, but no one knows about that,’ he told The Final Word podcast.
‘And then said, “oh, we’re just messing around. You can just lob one on my head. That’s fine.” Genuinely. So then I just poured one on his head and the security guard saw me from the ECB, who looks after us, and it filtered back.
‘That was kind of basically the story. We carried on the rest of the night together, getting on well. That’s the story that’s got blown up. Then obviously when things start getting out in the media and everyone’s saying all this stuff, then everyone believes that like that. And as soon as a story or a headline’s out there, ‘well that’s what happened then’.
‘But then you can’t really come out and say what I’ve just said, because I’m a young lad trying to break into the England team. It’s one of the best ever England players, you know? And people didn’t really want to hear me.
‘It was actually a really, really tough time. People look back and it’s probably funny and stuff like that. But when you’re in Australia and you’re kind of being told you can’t go to training, you can’t play – it’s a lonely place.
‘And being in Australia, you’re not getting much sympathy from any anyone out there, are you? But yeah, it was one of those things where… it feels like your world’s ending. The time difference, you’re not speaking to family much. The lads around me in that group at the time were amazing.’
