England's Curfew U-Turn Won't Fix a Batting Order That Keeps Losing

England's Test squad have once again been arguing over what time they're allowed to leave the bar, and the rules have swung back and forth so often this year that keeping track has become its own small sport. Captain Joe Root and incoming Test coach Stephen Fleming have jointly scrapped the midnight curfew that was reinstated only in January, framing the move as a show of faith in the players' judgement. Whatever trust that gesture signals, it does nothing to change the one figure that actually defines this side right now: two wins from their last 10 Tests.

A rule that keeps flip-flopping

English cricket's relationship with curfews runs deeper than this year's back-and-forth suggests. A midnight rule brought in for the 2017 Ashes tour stayed in force for more than four years before being dropped in 2022. It resurfaced in January following trouble on England's most recent Ashes trip, held through the start of the home summer, survived being broken by Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson after the first Test, was tightened into fresh guidance last month, and has now been withdrawn altogether.

Set the ECB's reasoning aside for a moment - the sheer number of reversals tells its own story. No policy that has been switched on, off, on and off again this often can credibly be called settled, and nothing about the latest change suggests that has altered.

The same argument, almost a decade apart

Root faced a version of this before. Ahead of the 2017 tour, with Stokes absent following the incident outside a Bristol nightclub, he insisted: "We are grown men and we know how to behave." That trip still produced the Bairstow-Bancroft headbutt incident, Ben Duckett tipping a drink over James Anderson, and a local reporter asking practising Muslim Moeen Ali whether the squad would be able to "stay out of the pub." The curfew introduced in its aftermath held firm for four years.

Almost a decade later, Root is making a similar case, but this time he has won the argument. Players asked to take responsibility on the field, he said on Wednesday, "have got to feel like they can be grown adults off it and make good, strong decisions off it."

This year's chaos, condensed

The white-ball curfew from January carried over into the Test side at the start of the home summer. Stokes and Atkinson broke it after the first Test. Director of cricket Rob Key, reportedly worn down by a difficult winter of off-field issues, raised the idea of banning alcohol outright, while acknowledging Atkinson had been unaware the curfew even applied. Head coach Brendon McCullum admitted there was "ambiguity" in the rules around the same time the pair were cleared of any wrongdoing. Stokes returned to the side before retiring.

New guidance followed last month: the curfew remained, alongside advice against drinking in the days immediately before, during or after a match. McCullum was then sacked as Test coach, and his final act in charge of both formats was reportedly to ease the drinking rules so the T20 side could celebrate beating India. The curfew is now gone completely, sanctioned by Root and by Fleming - McCullum's successor and, by most accounts, a close friend of his. It has also been lifted from the white-ball side, where Brook remains captain and McCullum remains head coach.

Not a uniquely English problem

Stokes pushed back last week on the suggestion that England have a specific drinking culture, arguing instead that cricket as a whole has an unhealthy relationship with alcohol. There is evidence for that view. England's win over New Zealand at Trent Bridge in 2022 - the match often credited with starting the Bazball era - was followed by celebrations on the dressing-room balcony that carried on into the early hours at a Nottingham takeaway. After the celebrated 2005 Ashes victory, Andrew Flintoff famously led the celebrations from an open-top bus through London. It isn't hard to imagine Australia's players matching or outdoing their England counterparts on the drinking front this past winter, too - the difference being Australia were winning the games and their batters were scoring the runs.

Former players note that nothing being consumed today compares with what Ian Botham, Allan Lamb or Phil Tufnell got through. That may be the real point: cricket's drinking culture has not evolved at the same rate as comparable sports. It's hard to picture Arsenal's Paul Merson or Tony Adams, both candid about their own drinking as players, suggesting Declan Rice or Viktor Gyokeres could keep pace with them. Nor is the habit confined to elite level - English club cricket has its own long-standing bond with the pub, echoing the post-match pint in Sunday league football or the bar at the local tennis club.

Why only results will settle this

None of that history excuses the timing. Late nights would likely be tolerated if England were winning. They are not - just two wins from their past 10 Tests, the number this entire debate keeps circling back to without ever addressing.

The rebuild begins with three Tests against Pakistan starting next week. The schedule only gets harder from there: an away series against world champions South Africa this winter, a home Ashes against Australia next summer, then five Tests in India in early 2028. Whether scrapping the curfew improves England's chances in any of that remains to be seen. Treating players as adults away from the field might help their performance on it, or it might not. What is clear is that repeatedly rewriting the rulebook, like repeatedly rewriting the top of the order, rarely produces a settled side.

England are free to keep debating bedtimes for as long as they like. Only wins, series and trophies will finally put the argument to rest.

Research: This article uses the archived evidence supplied for this story. Story inspiration: BBC Sport's original report.