England head coach Brendon McCullum said that he was in favour of his players celebrating success as long as they did not go overboard, in wake of an ongoing investigation into an incident involving Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson at a London nightclub. McCullum also wanted his players to take decisions more responsibly, while not wanting to "kill the joy".

With the jury out over whether the England men's team has a drinking problem, the question popped up again on Monday as McCullum addressed the media two days ahead of the second Test against New Zealand at The Oval. He expressed his frustration over the incidents, highlighting that he couldn't make every decision for the players.

"I guess fundamentally I'm in charge of the environment and I take responsibility for things which don't work out," McCullum said. “What you can't do is you can't make every single decision for people as well. My job is to try and shape this environment, (it) is to try and shape these young men who are dealing with the high pressure and high scrutiny of playing international cricket on the largest stage and being away from home twelve months of the year and the challenges that come with that.”

McCullum stressed upon the need for the players to understand the perils of their actions with regard to celebrations.

"Some of my most enjoyable moments have been sitting around after going to war with your teammates and sitting around in the dressing room and looking them in the eye and realising that you've left it all out there and you enjoy those celebrations," McCullum said. "I don't believe in excess. I think excess is a dangerous situation. You need to always uphold the standards and make sure we're trying to live by those.

"[The] guys are not always going to get it right and we need to just keep trying to educate and learn and teach these guys and try and just always understand that every action has a large reaction that follows, every negative action has a large reaction which follows and I'd like us to start understanding that well before we make decisions which put the very environment in jeopardy," he added.

With Director of Cricket Rob Key considering a complete ban on alcohol on the team, McCullum didn't bat for a blanket rule. He referenced a column from Alastair Cook in The Times, where the former skipper cited that his fondest moments were the ones he shared with his teammates in "celebrating great achievements."

"He [Cook] mentioned that some of his greatest moments that he looks back on fondly during his playing days are sitting around in the dressing room with his teammates celebrating what they've achieved. That looks different for every person, but that is fundamentally the moment that you do look back on as a player and I agree with Cookie on it. You know, I think there's no blanket rule for everyone in that regard. I think we need to just keep working through and trying to work out what the best thing is so that these incidents don't happen."

Meanwhile, McCullum insisted upon going through the "process" of the investigation before taking a call on Stokes' future as Test captain. He also said that it was important to look after Stokes, while mentioning that he has been speaking to the all-rounder every day since the incident took place.

"I think we need to go through the process," McCullum said. "I think I look at the time that the last four years I've worked intimately with Ben and I've seen Ben be an unbelievable captain. I think I've seen him at his absolute best as a captain, his best as a player and he's helped shape this environment over the last four years and he's had some incredible success doing it and I feel very lucky that during that time we've worked so closely together and what will be, will be down the line. Those decisions are not for now.

"The concern at the moment is making sure that Ben is fine and we need to look after him, rally around him and in time we'll get on to those sorts of decisions but for me I'm just making sure that I'm checking in with him and that's where things sit at the moment."

McCullum admitted that he was "slightly bewildered" when news of Stokes and Atkinson breaking England's midnight curfew first emerged, before going through a "range of emotions".