Overview
- On Tuesday Stokes told a podcast that cricket's drinking culture remains embedded despite the game's growing professionalism.
- His comments follow a late-night London nightclub altercation after England's first Test in New Zealand that resulted in Stokes and Gus Atkinson being suspended from the second Test.
- England management has circulated guidance advising players not to drink the day before, during or the day after matches and has kept a midnight curfew with exceptions subject to senior approval.
- Stokes acknowledged he once had periods when his relationship with alcohol was 'potentially dangerous' and said his approach is different now.
- Journalists and former players warn the guidance is largely advisory, enforcement gaps persist, and lasting change will require consistent discipline plus embedded mental-health and addiction support; one outlet's report that Stokes retired in June is limited in sourcing.