2017/18 These bad eggs act like students
MICHAEL VAUGHAN has launched strong criticism of some of England’s senior men for setting a poor example to younger players with late-night drinking.
The former England captain branded the actions of those caught up in the latest alcohol-related incident as “unfathomable” and “stupid”.
But Vaughan maintained senior players should have known better, including Jimmy Anderson, who was at the centre of the incident that led to the suspension of Ben Duckett after he poured a drink over the head of the England vice-captain. “Ben Duckett is a young kid but I would question the senior boys who are in that bar that night,” said Vaughan.
“They are the role models for the Lions and the ones that everyone should be IN PERTH looking up to. Yes, they need to release the pressure, but you have to question what the hell are they doing out there? “The team is under pressure and under surveillance and they have gone back to the same bar where the Jonny Bairstow incident happened on the first night of the tour. It is stupid and you just can’t fathom the mentality of a group of people who do that.” Trevor Bayliss is ready to adopt a hardline approach to repeat offenders by bombing them out of the England Test squad for future tours. BT Sport pundit Vaughan agrees it is time for England to get tough. “Punishments have to be a little bit stronger,” said Vaughan. “Duckett gets a £1,500 fine and suspension but every single England cricketer needs to be sat in a room and be told, ‘You can do what you want, but if you bring any bad PR on this team you will be sent home.”
The incident in The Avenue, the same bar where Bairstow introduced himself to Australian opener Cameron Bancroft with a head-butt on the first night of the tour in October, took place after midnight in the early hours of Friday morning.
There were 10 senior members of the Test squad out, including Anderson and a number of England Lions.
Vaughan also questioned why Lions players were allowed to be out on the town 36 hours before their match with a Cricket Australia XI in Perth. He said: “You look at Ben him, but we move on from that now and that is something that has happened and been dealt with. We’ve got a chance as a group of men to go out there and front up.
“We need to rebuild the trust we had built over the last few years. You rebuild it by winning games of cricket. You have to go out and win games and that starts at training and then in the Test.”
Bairstow, who was speaking at a Yorkshire Tea-sponsored event in Perth, believes the adversity of the past week can bring the side together.
“There is no reason why not,” he said. “We can win games of Duckett and look at his mentality. He is playing for England on Saturday. This is a chance.
“You are not in the [Test] side but he could go out and get a 150 and, with England 2-0 down, who knows? Where is his mentality that he wants to be out that late 36 hours before this opportunity?
“The perception of this England team is that they drink and they party too much. There is only one way to deal with that – don’t do it. The off-field stuff is grabbing headlines and rightly so but I look at a group of players and I think that the majority of this England side train well. But one or two bad eggs act like students when they go out.” ●WATCH the Ashes exclusively live on BT Sport. Visit www.bt.com/sport for more
details.
I question the actions of some senior men
cricket and there is no reason why we can’t do that for the rest of the series.
“Could this be a watershed moment? Absolutely yes.”
England go into the third Test at Perth on Thursday with Australia 2-0 up in the series and needing two wins and a draw at worst from the final three Tests@togirdeteaionnthberAosohkess.