• Source:JND
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England captain Ben Stokes cleared the air on the speculations raised about whether his side was reluctant to have drinks with the Australian team after the series got ended on Monday.

Stokes, took to a social media to clear the air, as he quoted an Australian journalist after the game.

“To clarify… Our wrap took longer than expected because of multiple last time event’s,” tweeted Stokes.

“We decided to meet up in the night club rather than the dressing room.”

The Australian media in general have criticized England players for posing reservations to have a drink with the Australian cricket team after they drew the series 2-2.

Even England's coach Brendon McCullum said he was more than happy to share a beer with the Australia squad now that the Ashes series is over, having suggested after the second test that he wouldn't do so following a controversial incident.

The series ended 2-2 after England won the final test at The Oval by 49 runs on Monday, so Australia retained the Ashes urn.

Also Read: England vs Australia 5th Ashes test Day 5 Report

"Yeah, we'll have a beer," McCullum said with a laugh when asked by reporters about his previous comments.

In the second test at Lord's, Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey dismissed Jonny Bairstow by underarming the ball at the stumps after Bairstow left his crease at the end of an over.

The stumping dismissal triggered loud booing from the Lord's crowd and Australian players were verbally abused by MCC members in the pavilion.

"I can't imagine we'll be having a beer with them any time soon," McCullum told the BBC after the incident. "You've got to live with the decisions you make."

He said on Monday, however, that his comments had been misinterpreted.

Also Read: Ben Stokes on England winning the 5th test

"If we look back to after that test match I don't necessarily think what I said was construed in the right way," he said.

"What I was saying was I've made mistakes in the past, and there's times when you look back on some decisions with regret and I put my hand up to say that. I guess that's what I was challenging. That's the grey area around the spirit of cricket."

 

Inputs from Reuters