The ECB has launched an investigation following a video that showed some Australian and England players having a drinking session at the hotel in Hobart and the police asked them to go their beds in their rooms.
The England Cricket Board (ECB) has launched an investigation following a video that showed some Australian and England players having a drinking session at the hotel in Hobart that went wrong and the police asked them to go their beds in their rooms.
Graham Thorpe, England’s assistant coach which appeared to make the video in the first place, and the video somehow reached the Sydney Morning Herald, in the video Joe Root and James Anderson along with Travis Head, Nathan Lyon, and Alex Carey were having a conversation at the table of drinks by several police officers at 6 am.
The group was sitting outside on the fourth-floor terrace of the Crowne Plaza hotel and was advised to return to their rooms by the police officers. They did so immediately. In the footage, an officer can be heard saying:
“Too loud. You have obviously been asked to pack up, so we’ve been asked to come. Time for bed. Thank you. They just want to pack up.”
“Tasmania Police attended the Crowne Plaza Hobart on Monday morning after reports were made of intoxicated people in a function area,”
said a police statement.
“The guests were spoken to by police, just after 6:00 am, and left the area when asked. No further action will be taken by police.”
The Herald quoted the hotel general manager saying that the noise complaint had come from outside the hotel and also mentioned that the players were not misbehaved or been asked to leave, contradicting the statement of the police officer heard on the video.
“To the best of my knowledge there were some noise complaints from outside,”
Ms. Collins told the Herald and The Age.
“We’re in the middle of the city and there is noise and other things. We get all sorts of random things and police will turn up. There was nothing untoward. No one was removed from the hotel. It’s not uncommon to get people complaining about the noise.”
The ECB said that they will investigate the incident that took place and how the video went to the public.
“During the early hours of Monday morning, members of the England and Australia men’s teams shared a drink in the team areas of the hotel in Hobart,”
an ECB statement read.
“The hotel management received a noise complaint by a hotel guest, and as is commonplace in Australia, the local police attended the scene.
“When asked to leave by hotel management and the Tasmanian police, the players and management in question left and returned to their respective hotel rooms. The England party has apologized for any inconvenience caused. The ECB will investigate further. Until such times, we will make no further comment.”
Although, there is no suggestion that the players have done anything wrong the ECB took action to see how deep the situation was and observe the drinking culture in the team after a disastrous end of the Ashes.
