England captain Stokes says player welfare his main priority

MELBOURNE, Dec 24 (Agencies): Captain Ben Stokes said protecting England players' welfare was his top concern Wednesday amid claims of excessive drinking on a mid-Ashes beach break, without directly addressing the allegations.

Stokes was peppered with questions ahead of the fourth Test in Melbourne about the team's behaviour at Noosa between the second and third Tests after British media reports compared it to a "stag-do".

Unverified social media footage appeared to show opener Ben Duckett drunk and disoriented.

Their disastrous tour took another hit Wednesday when pace spearhead Jofra Archer was ruled out of the rest of the series with a side strain.

The selectors have also included Jacob Bethell in the side. He will play at No 3 in place of Ollie Pope, who has been left out. Pope has had a dismal run in the three Tests of the Ashes so far. He has scored only 125 runs in six innings with 79 of those runs coming in the first Test alone. England cricket chief Rob Key on Tuesday pledged to investigate the drinking claims, while the England and Wales Cricket Board said in a statement it was intent on establishing the facts.

Stokes, whose team have already lost the Ashes, said his main concern was the players' mental welfare and to ensure they were ready for the Melbourne Test starting Friday.

"I'm obviously aware of the reports and everything circulating around right now," Stokes said.

"My main concern right now is my players, and how I handle this moment right now is the most important thing to me.

"The welfare of everyone in there, and probably some certain individuals as well, is the most important thing to me right now as England captain.

"It's never a nice place to be in when not only the media world, but also the social media world, is piling on top of you," he added.

"It's a very tough place to be in as an individual. As an individual, when you know you've got the support of the people who are sort of leaders, in a sense, it's very good to know that you've got that support."

Asked directly whether his teammates had "done anything wrong in Noosa", Stokes replied: "I've just answered everything there."

England went to Queensland tourist resort Noosa after losing the first two Tests in Perth and Brisbane heavily.

They spent several days on the sand and around restaurants and bars before travelling to Adelaide, where they lost the third Test as Australia retained the Ashes.

Britain's Daily Telegraph reported that "after drowning their sorrows after the Brisbane Test, it is no exaggeration to say some, certainly not all, players drank for five or six days". It added that players "did nothing outrageous in Noosa" but there was concern over the level of drinking, with England's professionalism already under the microscope after their limited preparations. Stokes conceded that when a side was losing there would be scrutiny, and "rightly so". "When you are 3-0 down you don't really have a leg to stand on but we've got two games of cricket to play. That's what we have to focus on," he said. "We haven't won a game in Australia for a long, long time."

England have gone 18 Tests since winning a match in Australia, dating back to their last series victory there in 2010-11. Their capitulation in this series in 11 days of play is the joint second quickest in more than a century, since the 1921 Ashes was completed in eight days.