No action over Bairstow headbutt

England’s Jonny Bairstow won’t be disciplined over the ‘‘headbutt’’ incident at the start of the Ashes tour.

England director of cricket Andrew Strauss said Bairstow was shocked by the reaction to the incident at a Perth bar on October 29 and was contrite over his part in it.

‘‘Jonny Bairstow mentioned to me that he ‘bumped’ Cameron Bancroft,’’ he told reporters yesterday.

‘‘It’s a greeting he does with his mates and he assured me there was no malice, no intent, no aggression in what he did.

‘‘Although I’m somewhat surprised he would choose to do such a thing, I’m taking him at his word. As such, I don’t think it would be appropriate for us to be launching disciplinary proceedings against him.’’

The incident follows England allrounder Ben Stokes being made unavailable for the tour as he waits to discover if he will be charged by police after an alleged late-night fracas in Bristol in September.

Bancroft on Monday said he was surprised by the strange greeting.

‘‘He just greeted me with a headbutt, kind of thing,’’ he said.

‘‘I was expecting a handshake ... it wasn’t the greeting of choice I was expecting.

‘‘There was certainly no malice in his actions and we continued on having very good conversation for the rest of the even- ing. At the time, he said sorry. For me, it was just really weird.

‘‘It was so random, I didn’t expect it coming.’’

Strauss said a code of conduct had been introduced for the team but denied they had a drinking culture.

‘‘These guys are not thugs. These are good, honest, hard-working cricketers who sacrifice a lot to play for England.

‘‘The perception of the players and the reality of who I know them to be is different at the moment.

‘‘Their job now is to ensure that people look at them for what they really are rather than what they are perceived to be.’’

The second test begins on Saturday in Adelaide.