Ashes drinks storm clarified as Zak Crawley explains what happened after Stuart Broad heroics
Ashes star Zak Crawley has opened up on drinks storm
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Zak Crawley has strongly denied that England snubbed post-Ashes drinks with their Australian counterparts.
Media from Down Under claimed the hosts didn't partake in the tradition, something that apparently incensed their rivals.
Ben Stokes has already shut down those claims and insisted England drank with Australian players at a nightclub following the fifth Test at The Oval on Monday.
And Crawley, speaking on the Vaughany and Tuffers Cricket Club Podcast, has now clarified the matter.
Stuart Broad bowled England to Ashes victory over Australia
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Stuart Broad bowed out of Test cricket by taking the final two wickets and the 37-year-old, along with Moeen Ali, was given a huge send-off by his team-mates.
Crawley said: "It was a shame that, the timing just didn't work.
"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."
Ollie Robinson is another England player who has spoken on the matter.
Writing for Wisden, the 29-year-old said: "The Aussies left before we got a chance to have a beer with them but a few of them came out after and we saw them later so it was all good in the end.
"Jack Leach actually wrote a poem about the series. It was a special few hours in the changing room."
This year's Ashes will last long in the memory.
And it was a series full of tension and controversy, starting with Jonny Bairstow's controversial dismissal in the second Test at Edgbaston.
After that incident, England head coach Brendon McCullum said his side wouldn't be drinking with the Aussies any time soon.
“I can't imagine we'll be having a beer with them any time soon," he said, with England losing that Test to go 2-0 down in the series.
But McCullum, speaking after Broad's amazing farewell at The Oval, then changed his stance by saying: "Yeah, we'll have a beer."
Meanwhile, Crawley is keen to try 'Bazball' when England lock horns with India at the start of next year.
"I don't really know much about their grounds," said the batter, who was England's top scorer during this year's Ashes.
"Sometimes in India it seams and swings a bit - and they've got unbelievable seamers - so hopefully there are a couple of pitches there that are like that as well, that will suit us a bit more.
"But if it's spinning, I feel like we play spin really well as well.
"We'll just have to adapt, see what we get.
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Ashes star Ben Stokes also insisted England did drink with their Australian counterparts
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"But they are pretty unknown grounds - I don't know if they're going to be raggers like Ahmedabad and Chennai, where we were last time."