‘Are we going to have a beer or not?’: Steve Smith recalls how Ben Stokes ‘two minutes’ turned into an hour | Cricket News

Steve Smith admitted that the England team left them stranded after the fifth and final test for the post-Ashes series drink and said it was a shame that an opportunity to continue that long tradition never came.
“We did knock on the door a couple of times. We were waiting around a while and Stokesy came out at one point and said ‘two minutes’ and about an hour passed,” Smith told SEN 1170’s The Run Home.
“We thought, ‘we can’t keep sitting here. Are we going to have a beer or not’? The guys got a bit fed up and decided it was time to go.
“It was unfortunate, it was the first time in my career that we’ve not had a drink with them after a series and it was a bit of a shame.
“They caught up with a few of the boys in the nightclub later on that night, I had gone home that stage, but it was a shame not to have a beer and reflect on what was a pretty cool series.”
England skipper Ben Stokes has 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.”
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.

“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,” Head said.
“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 design.”