‘The boys got a bit fed up’: Travis Head opens up on big Ashes drinks mix-up

Travis Head has lifted the lid on the post-Ashes series drinks with England that fell through, admitting Australian players got “fed up”.

Travis Head has confirmed Australian players became “a bit fed up” as attempts to join their English rivals for a post-Ashes series drink at the Oval fell through.

Australia had stayed at the ground into the night in the hope of joining England for a customary drinking session.

However, a source close to the Australian cricket team told foxsports.com.au an opportunity to continue that long tradition never came, much to their disappointment.

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England was adamant that they had not intentionally ignored Australia’s attempt to meet up, instead explaining that retirement speeches from Stuart Broad and Moeen Ali meant proceedings inside their dressing room ran long.

Long enough that they only left some time between 10.45pm and 11pm local time, over four hours after the last ball of the series was bowled.

England skipper Ben Stokes later clarified on Twitter that the two teams had agreed to meet at a nightclub instead.

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

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

Travis Head and Ben Stokes

Speaking on the Willow Talk podcast, Head confirmed England had not purposely avoided the post-Ashes drinks, but their speeches ran significantly longer than they were told they would.

He also said the two parties meeting up at a London nightclub wasn’t “by design” either.

“In terms of it, it’s been played up a little bit,” Head said.

“Post-match, I think we hung around for a little bit. They had a couple of retirements, and, I think, a few staff that was going. We sort of knocked a couple of times and got told two minutes, which turned into an hour, and the boys got a bit fed up.

“But yeah, a few of the boys met up with them afterwards, and I’ve been in contact with a couple of the guys that I was close with about the differences in the timings. A bit disappointing, but I don’t think it was by design.

“We didn’t go there together (the nightclub). It’s just by design again that both teams found themselves at the same place. I think it was a Monday night, but there are not many places to go on a Monday night in London, so we found ourselves at the same place... shared one or two Vodka Red Bulls together and then off to the flight.”

Travis Head gave his account of events. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Head later said that a few of the England players that he was closer with played up the drama, with the Australian also “chirping” back.

“There was a few boys that I know, [like] Ben Duckett was sort of chirping me a little bit about us dogging them and I chirped in a little bit about them dogging us, so all in good spirits,” added Head.

“Like I said, I think it was all a bit laughed off from us, and then the media played it up a little bit. It wasn’t meant to be, but those things happen.”

Head’s account of events was consistent with that of England opener Zak Crawley, who said earlier in the month that retirement speeches delayed the process.

“It was a shame that the timing just didn’t work,” Crawley told The Vaughany and Tuffers Cricket Club podcast.

“Obviously both teams do a debrief and ours is usually a bit shorter than it was on Monday night.

“We had ‘Broady’ (Stuart Broad) leaving, ‘Mo’ (Moeen Ali) leaving and one of the physios was leaving as well.

“So, we had our normal debrief and a send-off for those guys. We were just in there a bit too long and it didn’t quite work for the Aussies.

“That was a shame. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, the timings just didn’t quite work.”

Originally published as ‘The boys got a bit fed up’: Travis Head opens up on big Ashes drinks mix-up