England players allegedly declined Australian counterparts for post-Ashes drink; Ben Stokes clarifies

Another edition of a thrilling Ashes series ended on Monday, July 31, as England defeated Australia at the Kennington Oval, in London, by 49 runs to square the series 2-2. However, the away side retained the prestigious urn. After the Ashes, a customary session is conducted where players and support staff of the two teams and their friends and family gather to have a drink. However, it seems that England gave it a skip, leaving the Australian players high and dry.

Earlier there were some speculations that Ben Stokes and his men were not willing to have a drink with the visiting side after the culmination of an intriguing Ashes. However, later on, the England skipper, Ben Stokes, clarified that England wrapped up their internal post-match events later than expected due to some last-minute additions. As a result, they were not able to join their counterparts for their customary drink.

"To clarify… Our wrap took longer than expected because of multiple last time event’s. We decided to meet up in the night club rather than the dressing room," Stokes wrote on his Twitter handle to put an end to the rumours.

Later, renowned cricket writer Bharat Sundaresan mentioned that there were presentations held in the England camp to honour the contributions of the retiring duo of Stuart Broad and Moeen Ali. This took some extra time and that is why the players couldn't join their Australian counterparts for a drink.

There seems to have been a miscommunication between the two teams but this incident shouldn't take the limelight away from what was an exhilarating Ashes between two of the best red-ball teams in cricket at this point in time.

Stuart Broad, Moeen Ali bow out on a high

Stuart Broad had earlier announced at the end of Day 3 of the fifth Test at the Kennington Oval, in London, that he would be retiring after the match. Moeen Ali, who came out of Test retirement to play in the Ashes 2023 was also expected to hang up his boots again.

The two men put on a show on Day 5 of the fifth Test to help England level the series. Australia needed 249 runs on Day 5 with all wickets intact. Moeen battled an injury to take the wickets of Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, and Pat Cummins to jolt the tourists. Stuart Broad, on the other hand, picked up the last couple of wickets to finish on a high.