In short:

New England Test cricket captain Joe Root says late-night curfews will end, saying players needed to "be adults" off the field.

Root has returned to the captaincy following the sudden retirement of Ben Stokes, who was dropped for a Test match against New Zealand for a late-night incident.

What's next?

England begins a three-Test series against Pakistan starting next Wednesday in Leeds.

England skipper Joe Root says the midnight curfews in place at the end of the Bazball reign have been ditched as he called on his players to "be adults" in the new era.

With another Ashes series on the horizon in England next summer, Root has launched his second spell as Test captain with the message that his team need to remember: "You're playing for England."

Root's new reign at the age of 35 starts at Headingley next Wednesday against Pakistan in a three-Test series, which will be the first since Ben Stokes retired from international cricket and Brendon McCullum lost his job as Test coach in a turbulent spell.

In an interview with former captain Mike Atherton on Sky Sports Cricket Podcast, Root was asked if the player curfew, which was breached by Stokes and quick Gus Atkinson in a post-midnight nightclub incident in June, was still going to be in place.

"There's not going to be a curfew. I don't think this needs to be a big deal, to be honest," Root said.

"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.

"That's for us as a team to manage well, and self-police well, for me and Flem (new coach Stephen Fleming) to manage well in many ways.

"But ultimately you're grown adults, you know what it takes to play for England, you know what your responsibilities are off the field, and we need to make sure we don't find ourselves with any little situations off the field.

"We should be known for how we play our cricket and what we do on the field. We should be on the back pages of the newspapers and people reading about that sort of stuff.

"Be adults, look after yourselves, look after each other, create a good strong culture when you know when the right time is to celebrate and enjoy a win or to have a sensible beer or whatever, but remember you're playing for England."

The curfew had been instituted by England men's managing director Rob Key in the aftermath of the pre-Ashes tour to New Zealand last November when Harry Brook was fined for an altercation with a nightclub bouncer on the eve of an ODI in Wellington.

England players' behaviour was then put under the spotlight during their 4-1 Ashes hammering, with opener Ben Duckett admitting he was not proud of being caught on camera under the influence of alcohol when they were 2-0 down in the series.

AAP