Why was he drinking in the same bar as Bancroft?

ALREADY a man down when they got on the plane, England’s cricketers were firmly reminded of their professional responsibilities before departing for Australia. Nobody expects young men to live like monks on a foreign tour lasting many months, but these were exceptional circumstances, it was pointed out. Jonny Bairstow would have been among those told there could be no repeat of the late drinking sessions that culminated in the arrest of Ben Stokes in Bristol in September. The agreement was to be self-policing. That didn’t last long. Bairstow had already been disciplined for staying out late on the night of Stokes’s arrest, but clearly the message didn’t get through. When he was allegedly involved in an angry confrontation with Australia batsman Cameron Bancroft, ending in a headbutt, this tour was no more than a week old. Whatever the context, it appears English cricket has a drink and discipline problem. The players gravitate towards bars more boisterously than is healthy. The freedom allowed by the ECB and its management is being abused. Some will argue the latest allegations are no more than Australian mischief-making — but it is easier for mischief to be made if the players allow themselves to be compromised in this way. Why was Bairstow in Bancroft’s orbit in the first place? Is there just the one bar in Perth, or could England’s players have gone elsewhere? It always seemed strange that David Warner and Joe Root should end up having the same late night in Birmingham in 2013, so why would England as good as seek out the haunts of Australian cricketers? Bancroft wasn’t even playing in the match. He was waiting to fly out to a Sheffield Shield game in Sydney. It is as if all sides have come looking for trouble. Most certainly, Bairstow has now found it. The sight of ECB executives in earnest conversation with Fox Sports journalists on the boundary ropes long after the Gabba had emptied was the first sign all was not well. Deep into the night the ECB were still putting out fires, issuing holding statements while investigations into Bairstow’s conduct continued. Even if the incident goes no further, what does it say about levels of discipline that Bairstow could disregard all of what he heard prior to coming here? Is this tour now unravelling like so many before it? A pity that England’s players are not determined to show as much fight on the cricket field as they have been in bars worldwide of late. They might not have spent the night staring at the possibility of a 10-wicket defeat.