Australia ‘adults’ do not need curfew, says coach Lehmann

Australian coach Darren Lehmann says he can't envisage ever slapping a curfew on his players, who were "grown men", after England opted to ban their team being out after midnight.

The England decision followed Jonny Bairstow's headbutt on Australian opener Cameron Bancroft in a Perth bar late last month, which only came to light over the weekend. It came with sensitivity within the England camp about off-field behaviour after the controversy surrounding suspended star all-rounder Ben Stokes, who is facing a police inquiry into a fight outside a Bristol nightclub in September. Lehmann said it was not something he would consider.

"We wouldn't have curfews but that's our decision and that (having them) is theirs," he told reporters in Adelaide late Tuesday ahead of the second Test starting Saturday. "We have faith in the blokes to do the right thing. They're grown men, they're adults." Former Australian captain and selector Greg Chappell suggested curfews were ineffective. "If someone is determined to get out and do silly things they're probably going to do it whether there's a curfew or not," he told Melbourne radio station SEN.

"Curfews are pretty useless really. If you treat people like adults, most of them will behave like adults. Those who don't probably don't last very long." England cricket chief Andrew Strauss was cited by cricket.com.au on Tuesday as saying there was no drinking culture in his team, but he imposed a midnight curfew on the five-Test Ashes tour regardless. In laying down the law after the Bairstow incident, he said his players "need to be smarter". "That's the reality, they are adults, intelligent adults, and at times they are not using that intelligence in the right way," he said. "It is a distraction to the team and none of us want that distraction."

Despite the Stokes controversy and the Bairstow incident, Strauss insisted the team were "good, honest, hardworking cricketers". "They've done some great things in an England shirt and I will back them on that to the hilt because I know them," he said. NEW DELHI: Senior batsman Thisara Perera has replaced Upul Tharanga as Sri Lanka's limited-overs captain, a change that will come into effect with the upcoming three-match ODI series against India and the subsequent T20 Internationals. Perera has played 125 ODIs since his debut in December 2009, with a very impressive strike-rate of 109 but an average of only 17. As a bowler, he has taken 133 wickets at 32.62 apiece. His form in the recent series, though, has come under some scrutiny. Perera made only 91 runs - at 18.20 - and picked up only four wickets in the ODIs against Pakistan and followed that with 19 runs and three wickets across three T20Is. NEW DELHI: India captain Virat Kohli has said that for the game cricket to sustain globally, Test cricket needs to be the premier format. "I believe Test cricket is paramount for the game to sustain globally. I would urge youngsters to take up longer version of the game," Kohli said during the first ever

‘Test cricket paramount for game to survive’