WE ARE ALL GROWN MEN AND SHOULD KNOW HOW TO BEHAVE
Moeen rap for England bad boys
over the last three games of the Lions tour rather than pour them over one of England’s best players.
There will be those who question the severity of the punishment, meted out by Lions coach Andy Flower with team director Andrew Strauss and ECB chief executive Tom Harrison, for what, in isolation, may seem a minor offence.
But England are worried the message is just not getting through to Ashes players in the aftermath of the Ben Stokes affair that they cannot continue letting their side down by becoming involved in alcohol-related incidents.
Duckett, who received a bad disciplinary tour report last winter after making four Test appearances in Bangladesh and India, was fined the maximum amount for a Lions player, believed to be around £1,500, and will not be able to play in the second-string’s games against the Perth Scorchers today, on Wednesday and on Friday.
Duckett, omitted from his big chance with the full side in the drawn game against a Cricket Australia XI when the incident was reported by security staff, was said to feel ‘hard done by’ even before the punishments were announced.
But England have looked at the wider picture. They felt the need to get tough because there are players among the 10 from the Ashes squad who ventured back to the Avenue Bar in Perth — scene of Jonny Bairstow’s first-night ‘headbutt’ on Cameron Bancroft — who do not seem to be aware of what all the fuss is about.
Thankfully Moeen Ali, one of the six who did not go out late on Thursday along with captain Joe Root, Alastair Cook, Chris Woakes, Ben Foakes and Jake Ball, sees the need for an urgent appraisal of team culture.
‘The off-field behaviour needs to improve, we all know that and it will happen,’ insisted Moeen after captaining England in yesterday’s drawn two-day match. ‘We’re all grown men and we should know how to behave and every individual needs to be responsible.
‘As professionals we know scrutiny is on us and we have to be careful. There are young kids watching and hearing about all this and it’s important we are on our best behaviour because we need to inspire the younger generation to take up the game. This sort of thing could turn them away and that’s not what we want.’
They were words delivered quietly and calmly but with no less force than the almost apoplectic rage with which Trevor Bayliss threatened on Saturday to end the careers of what he considers to be a minority of repeat England offenders.
Clearly Moeen is a role model for his team as well as crucial to the ECB’s hopes of attracting a family-based audience to their new Twenty20 competition in 2020 — not to mention helping them attract the sponsors the game badly needs.
Moeen was asked aggressively yesterday by an Australian inquisitor if ‘you blokes can possibly stay out of the pub until the next Test?’
‘I’m not much of a pub guy to be honest with you,’ he said simply. ‘It’s not my sort of scene. But maybe the culture needs to change now. It’s not always easy and the guys are on tour for a long time. They feel they want to go out sometimes but when you’re out you have to behave yourself.
‘I’m not a massive guy for going out. It’s not my cup of tea and I just want to chill with my family but I can understand why people enjoy it. We have team gatherings and obviously I don’t drink but I still enjoy myself as much as everybody else. Just without the hangover the next day.’
There should be no tears shed for Northants opener Duckett, 23, who has not shown the discipline and professionalism needed by an England player. And he could become the first of a number with whom England have run out of patience. Duckett was to have been given another big chance to impress Bayliss with the seniors against a mediocre Cricket Australia XI, but now his England career could be over.
There could be more like him. Bayliss feels badly let down by a minority of his players and there will be at least two batsmen playing for their international futures on the rest of this tour. Off-field behaviour will be top of the agenda when England come to pick their team for two Tests in New Zealand in the new year.
Strauss, who has been guilty of muddled thinking in imposing a curfew and then lifting it, is under considerable pressure now to clamp down heavily, along with Bayliss and the selectors, on offenders who are just not listening and appear to be in denial about what has been unravelling here.
Interestingly, England have exonerated vice-captain Anderson from any blame for the incident, even though it could be argued that he was wrong to be in that now-infamous Perth bar in the early hours, apparently having a row with Duckett. Could the senior players not have policed the evening?
Clearly, the time to act is now, starting with Duckett and then spreading to the bigger fish Bayliss clearly wants to fry when England get home.
Alternatively, they could just try to find a team of Moeen Alis.