Ben’s had a wake-up call
now. That will be up to Ben and his management team. But when he came out to New Zealand after the Ashes tour he missed, he certainly addressed the players in the changing room when he first arrived.
“It was important to actually apologise to the boys in the team, management of the team and management at the ECB, who had to go through a lot of extra activities to work our way through it.
“It will be up to Ben how much contrition he has got. I know away from this incident and around the game he is an honest, humble guy. I can’t see this situation being any different.”
Bayliss admits the incident has been a wake-up call for Stokes and the whole team.
He said: “We can only take things on face value and he certainly understands he was out when he shouldn’t have been and got involved with something that he should not have been involved in.
“I am sure that it has been a wake-up call for him.
“Since the Bristol incident, there’s a lot of work being done on team culture and that will be ongoing.
“Certainly, since a couple of small indiscretions in Australia after that, I can sit here and say that I think the players have finally woken up.
“He’s a mate of the guys in the team but they also understand the gravity of the situation that occurred and you can see everyone’s behaviour has certainly stepped up a level since that incident.”
Stokes was back training with England at Trent Bridge yesterday after being called back into the squad following the conclusion of the seven-day trial in Bristol.
And Bayliss, who would not confirm whether his former vice-captain would return to the team, said: “It’s good to have him back. For us and the team, it’s business as usual.
“It was basically thought that for his own well-being, it was good to get him back around cricket. We have got the next two days to assess where he’s at.”
This week saw another high-profile alcohol-related incident with a sportsman when England rugby star Danny Cipriani was fined £2,000 after pleading guilty to common assault and resisting arrest during a night out in Jersey, where he was on a pre-season tour with his club Gloucester.
Bayliss said: “Sportsmen are human beings as well and throughout society there are these sorts of incidents. I suppose there’s going to be a small amount of indiscretion from sports people as well.
“No one is saying it’s right. Certainly not.
“All sportsmen have to have a good hard look at themselves and not put themselves in those types of situations.”