Self-centred boors should be quickly shown exit door
The stupid behaviour of a selfish few not only betrays their colleagues but also shames the England shirt
Treating international cricketers as adults is a good idea, until a young player pours his drink over the country’s all-time leading wickettaker and your own security staff have to call cabs and activate the evacuation protocol. Then, trust is wasted on people who lack self-control and are blind to the trouble already swirling round the camp.
Stupidity and self-absorption are vying to be the main label for Ben Duckett’s actions on the night England lifted a curfew imposed in the wake of the Jonny Bairstow ‘headbutt’ incident. Everyone here in Perth would acknowledge that a young gun chucking a drink over Jimmy Anderson is, in itself, no great crime. Thirty years ago on Ashes tours, nobody would have noticed it, much less been dropped as a consequence. But Duckett, who clearly lives in a news vacuum, had apparently not noticed that his country’s cricket team has been reeling from the Ben Stokes incident, which deprived them of a world-class all-rounder and created endless distractions.
Consider this. On the very first non-curfew night since the Brisbane crackdown was reversed, Duckett, in a group of England players, lacked the wit to realise that throwing a drink over Anderson with the ECB’s security men in attendance was a terrible idea. With England 2-0 down in a series, and allegations of a “drinking culture” doing the rounds, all Duckett had to do was have a few glasses and go home without complicating the lives of his colleagues and management.
In a field in South Perth here last night , Trevor Bayliss, the England coach, found himself flicking flies from his face on live TV while he repeated the condemnations that followed the Bairstow ‘butt’ on Cameron Bancroft (what is it about Perth that loosens the intellectual handbrake of some players?)
Bayliss was asked straight. Had Duckett poured a drink over another player? “Yeah, that was the issue,” the coach said, clearing more flies. “Boys being boys, I suppose, but totally unacceptable.”
Privately, England’s management concede that the police investigation into the Stokes affair in Bristol set the tone for discipline on this tour, where Joe Root’s men are 2-0 down and heading to a venue where Australia have not lost to the Poms since 1978. In that context, every small incident becomes indicative of something deeper, a wider malaise.
Bayliss and the ECB staff did a good job of handling this latest news explosion. And Bayliss was within his rights to say “most of the guys are fine” – because most of these England players know how to relax without causing trouble. The word is that two or three players tend to feature when problems arise. When Bayliss told the cameras he “might review who’s in the team” he was sending out the message that a few careers are in jeopardy. He spoke of “stern words from above.” But it needs to go much further, as he seemed to acknowledge by promising consequences in future selections.
England can manage the message in Perth, but they can’t control the reaction back home, where people will make damning connections. Bairstow, they will note, was fined £1,000 for staying out late on Sep 25 in Bristol after a one-day win over West Indies. In an unrelated incident, Stokes was arrested on suspicion of actual bodily harm after an altercation outside a nightclub.
Duckett, 23, has history. He lost the England U-19s captaincy when he failed a fitness test and missed a pre-season tour with his county, Northants, for the same reason. He has also served a ban for drink-driving.
On this tour, Bayliss has described some of the recent behaviour by England players as “dumb”. In the public mind, distinctions between good professionalism and rowdiness blur, so the whole tour starts to be seen as unruly. This is unfair to those following the rules without becoming robo-cricketers, locked in their rooms.
The unfairness, though, is created by those who have no consideration for team-mates who can handle their drink, and no apparent sense of what it means to play for England. A personal suspicion is that some players want the benefits of international sport without the responsibilities, and believe that ‘conduct’ is an outdated concept.
If so, they are blind. They are not backpackers or lads on tour. Stupidity has consequences for colleagues who draw back from that stupidity, and have a right not to be sucked into these news typhoons while also trying to avoid a 5-0 battering.
England have tried lectures, curfews, liberalisation and trust. They have also now tried dropping people (Duckett). They are entitled to conclude that anyone who behaves in a way that suggests playing for England is not important to them should be freed from that bind. They should get rid of them, and find people who can think beyond themselves.