It’s never too late for some

The naughty boys of England cricket Gus Atkinson (left) and Ben Stokes. PIC/AFP

England captain Ben Stokes and fast bowler Gus Atkinson were in hot waters recently for breaking a team curfew after the opening Test against New Zealand at Lord's. We probably wouldn't know about the breach had it not been for their scrap with Saracens rugby player, Totoa Auvaa. The England team's security officer accompanying the duo was so badly hurt that he needed stitches. Metaphorically too, this incident has hurt English cricket, opening up talk of a drinking culture in the team.

Team curfew is serious business, but there are funny stories galore about players and late-night restrictions.

The late Dilip Sardesai once told me how he caught a few nightlife-loving India players returning late when he was team manager for the Delhi Test against West Indies in 1983. Discovering they were out for the night, Sardesai decided to keep awake at the hotel reception to "receive" them deep into the night. Knowing him, he wouldn't have held back the hard talk.

Farokh Engineer, who was Sardesai's teammate on the 1971 tour to England, liked being out late too. He once revealed that he placed pillows under a bed sheet in an attempt to hoodwink strict manager Hemu Adhikari, who would invariably come and check for ‘full attendance' in rooms occupied by two players.

Adhikari believed Engineer's roomie when he said the flamboyant batsman-wicketkeeper was fast asleep. Engineer who has followed the ongoing controversy in England closely since he lives there, told me from Cheshire on Wednesday: "We did each other a couple of favours too. But we always were aware of our responsibilities and never got blind drunk or got into any brawls like some of the England players do these days.

"Kolkata was the main place in November/December when we were regularly invited to some great parties. I always remember my dad's words, ‘Son, if you're not in bed by midnight… get up and go home.' "

Garfield Sobers, the greatest living all-round cricketer (90 in July), was never one to hit the sack early. His stories are legendary. Knowing his penchant for late-night parties, his captain Frank Worrell had no curfew rule for him and Sobers knew well that if he didn't perform up to expectations, the critics would rush to point to his late nights.

In Twenty Years at the Top, Sobers wrote: "My ‘live for today' approach was really fostered by the late Sir Frank Worrell. He liked to enjoy himself after matches, and I remember many nights when we sat up together in hotels talking and drinking. There was a curfew for the team, but he used to say to me: That's not for you. I know you well enough. What he meant was that he recognised we had a lot in common. He knew that if I went to bed early I wouldn't sleep. My view about sleep is that you go to bed when you are tired. If you still have plenty of energy to burn, you burn it."

In the same book Sobers revealed how he scored the last of two Test hundreds at Lord's in 1973 after being out till 5 am and returning to the hotel, where he didn't sleep. He admitted not seeing the ball when he resumed his innings at 31 ("Bob Willis then 24 and bowling at his fastest, beat me several times, and I remember saying to myself: Just play straight.")

At the end of the day, a player's mental make-up gets into the mix. Dr Rudi Webster, the Grenada based sports psychologist and former team manager of the West Indies team, in an interview with Australian journalist Roland Fishman on the 1991 tour of the Caribbean, revealed what happened in World Series Cricket in Australia. Joel Garner had to go out at night, but there was a 12 am curfew imposed. And Webster told the giant fast bowler: "Stay in the hotel till until midnight and then go out." "It's different for everyone," emphasised Webster.

Some players like to go out, others prefer to have an early night in their hotel room. Vijay Merchant, India's batting technician was one such player. The late Rusi Modi, the India batsman of the late 1940s and early 1950s, visited Merchant's room on the eve of the Oval Test in 1946. The conversation was very brief because Merchant said he had to sleep early to score a century the following day. When Modi indicated that his chances were not so bright considering the strong England attack, Merchant remarked, "So what?" The next day, Merchant stayed unbeaten on 30 on a rain-affected pitch and got a hundred on Day Two, a knock Modi described as a "magnificent 128."

Curfew-imposing will be viewed by some as childish if not laughable in this day and age. The better way to deal with it is through extended non-selection of players who get into bar/street boxing or wrestling bouts or disgrace themselves in other ways (remember Ben Duckett captured drunk and helpless during the 2025-26 Ashes?)

Stokes and Atkinson are already feeling the pinch and hopefully their teammates have taken note.

mid-day's Deputy Editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance.
He tweets @ClaytonMurzello. Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't represent those of the paper.