England’s mid-series break to Noosa has turned into a public relations fiasco following the emergence of a video appearing to show Ben Duckett lost and drunk in the Queensland holiday resort.
The line uttered by one English fan appearing to try and help the opener find his way home will go down in the Ashes hall of infamy. “Do you want me to get you an Uber to the nets, bro? Probably for the best.”
Already 2-0 down in the series by this stage, the Duckett video – not yet verified – did little to dispel the feeling that the trip was a glorified stag do. Hours before its emergence, Rob Key, managing director of England men’s cricket, had confirmed there would be an investigation into claims of heavy drinking by some players in Noosa.
If we assume the man who identified himself in the footage as Duckett is indeed the England batter, it’s an awful look.
Duckket helping the economy big time pic.twitter.com/FXyoMUyjIx
— Liverwood (@21_liverwood) December 23, 2025And it’s not the first time he’s has been in trouble for an incident on a night out in Australia, with Duckett dropped from the England Lions after pouring a drink over James Anderson’s head during the 2017-18 Ashes tour.
The fallout from Noosa does lead to legitimate questions about whether there is a drinking culture within the current squad, but would people be as outraged if England were winning the series rather than 3-0 down? I suspect not.
Many of those condemning Duckett and other players cheered on England’s 2005 Ashes winners when they got on the booze for 48 hours after their memorable series.
In a sport where post-series beers are a long-held tradition, people risk becoming hypocrites when they single out individuals for drinking.
Yes, international cricketers are athletes and know they should not drink to excess during a series, especially one as high-profile as the Ashes. Duckett was no doubt dumb.
Yet it says much about modern society – and people’s desperation for likes and shares on social media – that players now have to assume they are being filmed everywhere they go.
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Calls for Duckett to be dropped or even sent home are ridiculous. England have stood by their opener and named him in the XI for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.
An emotional Ben Stokes also threw a protective blanket around Duckett when speaking to the media at the MCG on Christmas Eve.
England’s captain knows exactly what it’s like to be stuck in the eye of a media storm. The 2017 Bristol street fight, when he defended two men who were suffering homophobic abuse, saw Stokes dropped from the 2017-18 Ashes tour. He had to clear his name in court the following summer too.
Stokes took a mental health break from cricket in 2021, with the fallout from Bristol a contributing factor.
What people need to realise is that the life of an international cricketer is not normal. Of all the athletes in major team sports, they spend the longest periods away from home. Yes, they are well paid, but touring life is tough.
Even people who do not suffer from diagnosed mental health issues can find things hard. As somebody who has been touring for the past 15 years, I can sympathise with what the players go through.
It’s why I asked Stokes at the MCG whether people should be kinder given they might not realise the stresses and strains of touring life. “You have to deal with the emotions of being away, the scrutiny you are under, in particular when things aren’t going well,” he said.
Ben Duckett remains in the England side for the fourth Test (Photo: PA)“Everything just gets heightened, but there needs to be a little bit of empathy. If you don’t know what it’s like, it’s quite hard to understand. But just in this moment right now, I think a little bit of empathy from everyone would not be too hard to think about.”
No doubt Stokes’ attitude towards Duckett has been shaped by the tragedy of Graham Thorpe, a man I knew and was very fond of.
England’s assistant coach on the last Ashes tour in 2021-22 was publicly shamed after a video he had taken of police breaking up a post-series drinking session at 6am involving himself and players from both teams in Hobart found its way into the public domain. He was sacked after the tour.
Thorpe had suffered from depression. His family believe the fallout from that Ashes video, as well as the restrictions England had been operating under throughout the pandemic, directly contributed to his suicide at the age of 55 in August of last year.
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His wife, Amanda, speaking earlier this year, said: “He came back from Australia in such a terrible state. It was down to lots of things; the video, the whole environment.”
At the inquest into Thorpe’s death last summer, his father, Geoff, said that the leaked Hobart video caused “catastrophic damage”.
It’s a reminder that as stupid as Duckett might have been, he didn’t break any law or hurt anybody.
People need to realise that what they post on social media can have very damaging consequences in real life. And if in doubt? Be kind.
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