England lift midnight curfew as team prepares for Pakistan Tests

England's men's Test team have abandoned a midnight curfew this week as they prepare to start a three-match Test series against Pakistan beginning next week. The decision follows a seven-month reinstatement of the curfew that was imposed in January and has been removed under the direction of captain Joe Root and new Test coach Stephen Fleming.

The curfew issue stretches back almost a decade: Root's 2017 words that "We are grown men and we know how to behave" were spoken during his first stint as captain ahead of an Ashes tour on which Ben Stokes was absent because of an incident outside a Bristol nightclub. That tour also featured incidents involving Jonny Bairstow and Cameron Bancroft, Ben Duckett and James Anderson, and a question to Moeen Ali about whether the players would be able to "stay out of the pub"; the midnight curfew imposed on that tour lasted more than four years until it was banished in 2022.

Rules introduced in January for England's white-ball players were extended to the Test squad at the start of the home summer. After the first Test of the summer, captain Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson broke the curfew in June; Rob Key, the director of cricket, subsequently floated the idea of a total alcohol ban and said Atkinson did not know the curfew was in place.

Head coach Brendon McCullum acknowledged there had been some "ambiguity" around the regulations at the same time Stokes and Atkinson were cleared of any wrongdoing; Stokes returned to the side and later retired. Last month England issued new guidelines that kept the curfew while advising that alcohol should not be consumed on the days immediately before, during or immediately after a match.

McCullum was then sacked as Test coach; his final decision in charge of both formats relaxed drinking guidance so England's T20 side could celebrate a series win against India. The curfew has now been removed at the instruction of Root and McCullum's replacement, Stephen Fleming, with the England and Wales Cricket Board described as viewing Fleming as a "grown-up" and lifting the restriction for the white-ball team still led by McCullum and Harry Brook. McCullum is said to be supportive of players taking responsibility for their behaviour.

Ben Stokes has rejected the idea that England have a drinking culture, instead suggesting the whole game has an unhealthy relationship with alcohol. The article cites several examples of drinking and celebration in the sport: England's dressing-room balcony celebration at Trent Bridge in 2022 that ended with players ordering Mega Munch in the early hours, the open-top bus celebrations led by Andrew Flintoff after the 2005 Ashes, and references to past players including Ian Botham, Allan Lamb and Phil Tufnell. It also notes a recent winter in which Travis Head arguably drank more than England players while producing runs for Australia.

England have won only two of their last 10 Tests, a record the article says has damaged their reputation and must be addressed on the field. Quoting Root on Wednesday, the piece records his view that "If you want guys to take responsibility on the field, they've got to feel like they can be grown adults off it and make good, strong decisions off it."

England begin their three-match Test series with Pakistan next week; their Test schedule afterwards includes an away series in South Africa this winter, a home Ashes against Australia next summer and five Tests in India in early 2028.