JOE ROOT has confirmed there will be no curfew in place during his second spell as England Test captain.

A new era of English cricket will begin at Headingley next Wednesday when Root leads the team against Pakistan in the first Test match since Ben Stokes retired from international cricket and Brendon McCullum lost his job as red-ball head coach.

The main controversy at the end of the “Bazball” tenure was an incident in June at London nightclub Rex Rooms, where Stokes and Gus Atkinson were out past a midnight curfew put in place by England men’s managing director Rob Key, which occurred after Harry Brook was fined for an altercation with a bouncer in New Zealand last November.

During an interview on this week’s Sky Sports Cricket Podcast with Michael Atherton, Root said: “There’s not going to be a curfew. I don’t think this needs to be a big deal, to be honest.

“My view on curfews is I don’t think they work, and if you want guys to take responsibility on the field they’ve got to be able to feel they can be grown adults off it and make good strong decisions off it.”