No curfew Players to adopt own code of conduct on tour
Players agree no-alcohol rule in lead-up to games Bayliss resigned to loss of Stokes for whole tour
England’s cricketers have agreed a protocol for socialising on their tour of Australia, according to the head coach, Trevor Bayliss, as their response to the Ben Stokes nightclub incident which threatens to cast a shadow over the Ashes series that starts in three weeks’ time.
No curfew will be imposed on the 16-player touring party, while, in return, the squad have agreed not to drink “two or three days before a game” and to make sure they tell their security officers if they go out after dinner.
“It doesn’t matter if you have rules and regulations and curfews,” Bayliss said. “In the end, it’s the players’ own choice whether they break a rule or work things out for themselves. The players have sat down, had a bit of a chat and come up with a few small rules and regulations, and a belief or agreement among themselves that they will be doing the right thing and looking after themselves.
“There will be times when they are able to go out and have a few beers. It’s a long tour, you can’t be cooped up in a hotel room for four months. It’s a case of being sensible and professional, that doesn’t change with set rules in place or not.”
In future the England players will make sure they tell their security officers, not where they are going simply for dinner, but if they are going out after their evening meal.
“One of the things is reinforcing that if they do go out, they need to let security know where they’re going,” Bayliss said.
On the evening of Sunday Sept 24, the players met up at the hotel bar in Bristol to celebrate their victory in the third one-day international against West Indies but did not tell their security officers when they headed out to nightclubs in Clifton, where Stokes and Alex Hales became involved in an incident which led to Stokes being arrested on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm and Hales being interviewed under caution. Instead of a curfew, the protocol will be about “just making sure in the two or three days before a game we are back in good time, not out late”.
For alcohol, the cut-off will be “two or three days, which should
just be the norm anyway. Whatever rules and regs you have there’s a bit of a wake-up call. We would have preferred it not to be such a big wake-up call,” Bayliss added.
The players will have local knowledge on their side when they do go out because on this tour their chief security officer is a former Queensland policeman, Reg Dickason, who was last week assessing Karachi as a future venue for the Pakistan Super League, supported by his son Sam. If Stokes had been on this tour, attracting troublemakers both Australian and English, this assignment could have been equally challenging.
When asked if he had written Stokes off for this Ashes series, Bayliss replied emphatically: “I have. If he turns up, it’s an absolute bonus. And if he did happen to turn up, I’m quite sure he would slip back in very easily.” Bayliss would personally prefer that Stokes was replaced in the Test team by a bowler. Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali, although it had not yet been decided in which order, would bat at six and seven, followed by Chris Woakes at eight.
Bayliss also confirmed that Chris Silverwood was the choice to be the next England bowling coach but that negotiations with Essex were far from complete. “Negotiations are ongoing but hopefully it will be finalised in the next week or two.”
Shane Bond, the former New Zealand fast bowler, is England’s bowling coach for this tour, but it is understood he was not one of the six interviewees for the fulltime job.