Rob Key is considering an alcohol ban for England’s cricketers ‘at any time and at any stage’ – and admitted he has not ruled out sacking Ben Stokes after he and Gus Atkinson broke the team curfew following the first Test victory over New Zealand at Lord’s.

As the fallout from their late-night trip to The Rex Rooms in Chelsea continued, Key denied the Test team had become a ‘national embarrassment’, and revealed that Atkinson told him he was unaware a curfew had been in place for several months.

On the day Stokes was seen for the first time since Sunday night, emerging from his home in County Durham in a baseball cap, a hoodie and tracksuit bottoms, Key expressed his despair and anger at the players’ failure to respect the new rubric. 

On the day Stokes was seen for the first time since Sunday night, emerging from his home in County Durham in a baseball cap, a hoodie and tracksuit bottoms, Key expressed his despair and anger at the players’ failure to respect the new rubric.

‘A lot of people have had phone calls that you’re just in disbelief with,’ said England’s managing director. ‘Then you get angry. There’s a load of things and I’m still not sure I’m over those at the moment.

‘Over the last few months Ben and I have spent so much time together talking and working out the way forward, and I thought some of those things were starting to come to fruition on the pitch. To then very quickly be talking about this is not where I want to be.

‘I’m trying to give myself a bit of time. Do we need to look at, actually, have we been strict enough? Even when they win a game of cricket, is it now a time when there’s just no alcohol at any time and at any stage?

‘I need to think through these things, because I don’t want to make a rash decision that actually hinders the team and creates a situation where they don't feel they can do anything. But the players now have to show the public that they can be trusted. At this point it’s hard to say they can.’

He added: ‘No, I don’t think they’ve become a national embarrassment.’

During a media briefing at The Oval, venue for next week’s increasingly crucial second Test against New Zealand, Key several times declined the chance to back Stokes’s captaincy. 

Asked whether he was saying he wouldn’t sack him, he replied: ‘I’m not saying that. At this point in time, it has not crossed my mind to get that far ahead. It’s just about finding out all the information, finding out how he is, putting all that information together and working out what the best thing to do is.

‘We have to let that process play out, because I want to work out what the best thing to do for this team is, and the best thing to do for Ben Stokes.’

Key suggested there was no excuse for Atkinson not knowing about the curfew after it was introduced in January, and added: ‘If those protocols weren’t in place, it could have been a lot worse.’