It was meant to be festive, but for England this Christmas felt more like cold leftovers than a roast with all the trimmings. The Ashes 2025-26 series still has matches left on the calendar, yet three bruising defeats have already confirmed one painful truth: the urn is staying firmly in Australian hands. After just 11 days of cricket, England were 3–0 down, dreams crushed, confidence leaking faster than warm lager. When things go south like that, it’s human nature to look for an escape. A beer, a wine, maybe something stronger. Which is why the internet went into meltdown when a clip appeared suggesting Ben Duckett got drunk during the break. Suddenly, the cricket took a back seat, and the story became about behaviour, optics, and whether the England team in Noosa had lost the plot entirely.

Why Noosa Was Even a Thing?

Before the pitchforks came out, it’s worth remembering why the England team in Noosa existed in the first place. The four-night stay on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast had been planned a year in advance. It wasn’t billed as a holiday, more a pressure valve in a relentless six-month stretch of touring. New Zealand, Australia, and more cricket looming meant burnout was a real risk. So Noosa was sold as calm beaches, phones off, and minds reset.

England chiefs are looking into a video appearing to show an intoxicated Ben Duckett as they investigate claims of players drinking to excess during the Ashes.

Read more ⬇️https://t.co/cYsZ2MyiNR pic.twitter.com/E4pXtvIeA3

— Telegraph Cricket (@TeleCricket) December 23, 2025

But the reality looked different once cameras followed them everywhere. Social media clips showed players roadside, drinks in hand, Akubra hats on heads. And then there was the video that really took off, the one where Ben Duckett got drunk, slurring his words, looking spectacularly lost, and reacting with exaggerated confusion as he tried to work out where on earth he was going. Arms waving, words tumbling, balance optional.

BREAKING: The ECB says they are “establishing the facts” after a video appeared on social media featuring Ben Duckett apparently slurring his words 🚨 pic.twitter.com/64IbIMyOYb

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) December 23, 2025

The clip didn’t just show a player having a quiet one. It showed a man appearing utterly baffled by geography, gravity, and basic navigation. If acting lessons were handed out for “confused tourist at 2am”, Duckett would have walked away with an Oscar. It’s important to say the ECB stressed the footage’s timing and context were unclear. Still, the internet jury moved fast. Once again, the headline wrote itself: Ben Duckett got drunk, and England were embarrassing themselves in the middle of the Ashes 2025-26 series. Fair or not, perception became reality.

What the ECB Actually Said

England’s response was cautious, measured, and very on-brand. In a statement that did the rounds everywhere, the ECB said:

“We are aware of content circulating on social media. We have high expectations for behaviour, accepting that players are often under intense levels of scrutiny, with established processes that we follow when conduct falls below expectations. We also support players that need assistance. We will not comment further at this stage while we establish the facts.”

Rob Key, never one to dodge a microphone, was even more direct. He said:

“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. Drinking excessive amounts of alcohol for an international cricket team is not something that I’d expect to see at any stage and it would be a fault not to look into what happened there.”

He doubled down later, adding:

“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… Everything that I’ve heard so far is that they sat down, had lunch, had dinner, didn’t go out late, had the odd drink. I don’t mind that. If it goes past that, then that’s an issue as far as I’m concerned.”

Alcohol and England：A Long Story

None of this exists in a vacuum. England and alcohol have history, and not the romantic pint-after-play kind. During the 2017–18 Ashes, Jonny Bairstow’s infamous headbutt story did the rounds. Duckett himself was sent home from that tour after pouring a drink over James Anderson. More recently, clips of Harry Brook and Jacob Bethell drinking before an ODI in New Zealand earned informal warnings. So when the England team in Noosa appeared to blur the lines again, patience was thin. Key even admitted:

“I don’t mind players having a glass of wine over dinner. Anything more than that I think is ridiculous, really.”

Bazball, Broken Dreams, and What’s Left

All of this lands against a grim cricketing backdrop. Bazball was supposed to change everything. Instead, it’s been taken apart, piece by piece, by a ruthless Australian side. The Ashes 2025-26 series has already slipped beyond reach, Bazball has effectively been pronounced dead, and England are left staring at the possibility of a 5–0 whitewash. Whether or not Ben Duckett got drunk almost feels secondary now.

Related Article：Breaking Down the Glory：Last Time England Won Ashes in Australia

Australia win by 82 runs and retain the Ashes. pic.twitter.com/YtIf1CzmmU

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) December 21, 2025

The bigger question is whether England can summon enough pride, discipline, and clarity to salvage something, anything, from the final two Tests. Avoiding humiliation, restoring trust, and reminding everyone they’re still a serious cricket team is the real challenge. Because if the cricket doesn’t improve, the noise off the field will only get louder.