England defend themselves after being accused of rejecting post-Ashes drinks with Australia

Australian players were reportedly rejected by England for a post-series drink following the fifth and final Ashes Test.

The series was drawn 2-2 after England put on a bowling clinic against Australia on the final day at The Oval.

Australia looked on course to win the series 3-1 needing 146 more runs with seven wickets in hand following the opening sessions.

However, England took four wickets in 19 balls, before the retiring Stuart Broad took the final two wickets late to hand his side the win.

With spoils shared, Australia retained the Ashes urn after a highly competitive and controversial series.

But the controversy wasn’t yet laid to rest with play now over.

It is usually customary for the two teams to have a post-series drink with friends, family, and staff, however, England had no desire to do so, as Fox Sports Australia reports.

Cricket journalist Bharat Sundaresan reported that Australian players had been hanging around for a while waiting for the English players to meet them after the match.

The Australians had reportedly asked the English players about getting together but ‘didn’t get a response and allegedly the home team stayed behind locked doors’.

A source reportedly told Fox Sports: “We don’t really care, we’ve got the urn, but after a hard-fought series, it is pretty pathetic.

“Talk about the spirit of cricket.”

Sundaresean later reported that the English camp had been held behind due to the retirements of Stuart Broad and Moeen Alli and the presentations involved with that.

He wrote on Twitter: “Some clarification from the English camp now that their wrap up was extended because of the retirees & presentations & that they were keen on drinking with the Aussies & surprised that the visitors left early.

“Multiple misunderstandings at the end of a great Ashes?”

Ben Stokes later chimed in to reveal that England had indeed met up with the Australian players - just at a night club rather than the dressing room.

He wrote: "To clarify…Our wrap took longer than expected because of multiple last time event’s.

"We decided to meet up in the night club rather than the dressing room."

It follows a series full of controversy, including Lord’s Long Room abuse thrown toward the Aussies, and a fiery dismissal of Johnny Bairstow that left a lot of English fans quite unhappy.

England coach Brendon McCullum went as far as claiming that he couldn’t see the two teams sharing a beer following the series.

In a post-match press conference, he said: “I can’t imagine we’ll be having a beer with them any time soon.”

Perhaps a few vodka-sodas were shared instead.