England players need to realise they’re not on a stag weekend. It’s embarrassing and the Aussies will be loving it SIMON
AT A time when England needed their players to keep out of the spotlight, the Ben Duckett incident has, once again, raised some serious questions.
He’s not in the full squad, but, regardless, it’s another incident that means the headlines around this tour are focused on events off the field rather than on it. It’s embarrassing. This is another huge headache for the ECB and Andrew Strauss and you have to ask yourself, “What are some of these boys thinking?”.
This isn’t a holiday, this isn’t a stag weekend away.
You’re being paid good money to go out there and play for your country.
It’s time to wake up and smell the coffee.
There are plenty of other times you can go out on the gas and enjoy yourself.
There’s a job in hand and when you’re in Duckett’s (right) position, there’s a potential there is a massive drinking culture in this England side and the incidents we’ve seen in Australia have been blokes being stupid rather than malicious.
But something has to change – because the Aussies will be absolutely loving this.
In fact, they’ll be loving everything about this England tour. And, after two defeats, it’s now time for the England boys to look at themselves in the mirror. It’s not a comfortable thing to do, but the 11 players that walk out for the third Test at the WACA on Thursday need to have done exactly that.
Joe Root is going to have to think long and hard about how he speaks to the lads, and gets them in a place where they’re going to be confident enough to play on one of the quickest wickets in the world.
Duncan Fletcher used to ask us as individuals whether we were doing enough to prepare and be the best that we could possibly be.
Yes, cricket is a team sport, but it’s an individual one as well and when you are out there batting, you’re on your own – what happens is solely down to you.
The players have to be honest because some of the shots that have been played in this series so far haven’t been good enough. You’ve got to value that wicket, fight and graft to earn those runs.
You’ve got to make those Aussie bowlers sweat blood for wickets – they shouldn’t just be handed them.
Joe needs to put the onus on the players to accept responsibility because, when it’s an Ashes series, you should already have all the motivation you need to succeed.
Playing for England is an honour, a privilege – and it’s about time some of these players remembered that. ■■Watch The Ashes exclusively live on BT Sport, as well as short free highlights daily from 7pm on bt.com and the BT Sport app. Visit www.bt.com/sport