The China Mail - Key to probe England's 'stag-do' drinking on Ashes beach break

The England team headed to Queensland tourist playground Noosa after heavily losing the first two Tests in Perth and Brisbane.

They spent several days on the sand and around restaurants and bars, followed by TV crews, photographers and reporters before travelling to Adelaide where they lost the third Test and the Ashes.

Britain's Daily Telegraph reported that "after drowning their sorrows after the Brisbane Test, it is no exaggeration to say some, certainly not all, players drank for five or six days".

It added that players "did nothing outrageous in Noosa" but there was concern over the level of drinking, with England's professionalism already under question after their limited preparations.

"If there's things where people are saying that our players went out and drank excessively, then of course we'll be looking into that," Key told English media in Melbourne ahead of the Boxing Day Test.

"Drinking excessive amounts of alcohol for an international cricket team is not something that I'd expect to see at any stage.

"It would be a fault not to look into what happened there," added Key, who did not travel with the team to Noosa.

"From everything that I've heard so far, they actually were pretty well behaved. Very well behaved."

He admitted that he did not mind players having the occasional drink, but "if it goes past that, then that's an issue as far as I'm concerned.

"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, all of that stuff.

"If it goes into where they're drinking lots and it's a stag-do, all of that type of stuff, that's completely unacceptable."

Key also revealed he had previously looked into reports that players had been spotted drinking the night before a limited-overs match in New Zealand, just before the Ashes tour.

"I didn't feel like that was worthy of formal warnings, but it was probably worthy of informal ones," he said.

Key backed head coach Brendon McCullum, despite the Ashes being lost inside 11 playing days, the joint fastest defeat for more than 100 years.

The fate of both McCullum and Key rests with the England and Wales Cricket Board.

"Clearly, we've mucked up on the big occasions, whether that was the home Ashes series, whether that was last summer against India," he said of a home series that was drawn 2-2 when England threw away a position to win.

"The big ones have eluded us ... we have to evolve. We have to make sure that we're doing things better."

V.Liu--ThChM