‘ADULTS’ DON’T NEED CURFEW STOKES WORKING ON SWING

AUSTRALIAN coach Darren Lehmann says he can’t envisage ever slapping a curfew on his players, who were “grown men”, after England opted to ban their team being out after midnight. The England decision followed Jonny Bairstow's headbutt on Australian opener Cameron Bancroft in a Perth bar late last month, which only came to light over the weekend. “We wouldn’t have curfews but that’s our decision and that (having them) is theirs,” he told reporters in Adelaide yesterday ahead of the second Test starting on Saturday. “We have faith in the blokes to do the right thing. They’re grown men, they’re adults.” Former Australian captain and selector Greg Chappell suggested curfews were ineffective. “If someone is determined to get out and do silly things they’re probably going to do it whether there’s a curfew or not,” he told Melbourne radio station SEN. “Curfews are pretty useless really. If you treat people like adults, most of them will behave like adults. Those who don’t probably don’t last very long.” SUSPENDED England allrounder Ben Stokes landed in New Zealand yesterday, joking about “working on my golf swing” amid speculation he is set for a dramatic Ashes call-up. The fiery allrounder was tight-lipped after touching down in Christchurch, where he hopes to play first-class cricket for the Canterbury in New Zealand’s domestic one-day competition. Kiwi-born Stokes said he was looking forward to seeing his parents in the South Island city he left when he was 12. “It’s been that long since I’ve been back here, I’m 26 now,” he told reporters, refusing to discuss the trolley full of cricket gear he was pushing and instead quipping about golf. Stokes is barred from international cricket as British police investigate his alleged involvement in a late-night fight outside a Bristol nightclub. Britain’s Telegraph newspaper reported that England had contingency plans to fast-track Stokes back into the Ashes squad within 48 hours if police decide not to charge him over the fracas.