WE’RE NOT PLAYING 11 MEN — WE’RE UP AGAINST 24 MILLION AUSSIES!
Bayliss warns his England team...
England’s cricketers have written their own code of conduct for the three-month stay in australia in an attempt to avoid a repeat of the Ben stokes incident that has cast a dark cloud over the start of this ashes tour.
Only team director andrew strauss joined the players in a room at lord’s last Friday to thrash out the details of a code that stops short of introducing curfews, with management happy to give players responsibility for self-policing.
Coach Trevor Bayliss is determined to maintain his policy of treating players like adults even though he was badly let down by stokes and alex Hales when they were caught up in a 2.30am Bristol brawl in september.
Bayliss knows England will be reminded about the stokes incident wherever they go. ‘I suppose we’ll be on the other end of some of the sledging,’ he said.
‘You’ve got to realise, when you come here, you’re not playing 11 — you’re playing 24 million.’
The new rules stop the players from drinking alcohol for three days before any match and insist they inform security adviser Reg dickason of their whereabouts at all times. Sportsmail understands stokes and Hales — along with the three players fined for being out late, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball and liam Plunkett — had told dickason they were going out in Bristol that night but did not inform him when their excursion was extended into the early hours in the lively Clifton area.
‘The players have come up with a few small rules and regulations and an agreement that they’ll be doing the right things and looking after themselves,’ said Bayliss.
‘This has been a wake-up call to us and I just wish it hadn’t been such a big one. There will be times when they can go out and have a few beers because it’s a long tour and you can’t be cooped up in a hotel room for months on end. It’s just a case of being sensible and professional and that doesn’t change if you’ve got rules.
‘ It doesn’t matter whether you’ve got regulations or curfews. at the end of the day it’s a person’s choice if he breaks a rule or works things out for himself.’
Clearly dickason and his two assistants will keep a close eye on the players when they venture out but Bayliss is insistent that it will not become suffocating and they will not have ‘minders’.
‘We’ve got the same security as on any away trip and that’s one of the things that has been re-told to players,’ he said. ‘If they go out they’ve got to let security know where they’re going whether here or anywhere in the world.’
England are clearly resigned to being without their talisman throughout this trip as they await the verdict of avon and somerset police on whether stokes will face criminal charges and then for the ECB disciplinary commission’s decision on the punishment.
Chances are stokes will not play this whole winter. ‘We haven’t got a clue,’ said Bayliss when asked when England will know stokes’ fate. ‘It’s totally out of our hands. We’ve just got on preparing as best we can.’
Has the coach given up hope of having stokes in australia?
‘I have personally,’ said Bayliss. ‘If he turns up it’s an absolute bonus and if he did arrive at some stage I’m sure he’d slip back in pretty easily.
‘If any team loses any of their better players it upsets you but we’ve got a bit of time to smooth things out. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t think we could win without him.
‘It’s a fact of life. It’s happened and we will have to answer questions about him wherever we go. We’ll just have to get on with it. The quicker we have a resolution the better, from Ben’s point of view as well as ours, but we’ve got no control over it.’
England’s Plan a in coping without their best player is already becoming clear even after just one full training session here at the WaCa where this tour begins with a two- day game against a Western australian XI on saturday. Bairstow and Moeen ali will both move up a place to six and seven with Chris Woakes batting at eight and a vacancy at nine ahead of stuart Broad and Jimmy anderson. newcomer Craig Overton, Jake Ball and steven Finn are the contenders and have all to play for in the three warm-up games.
Meanwhile, Joe Root is insistent he wants to remain at four even though his coach would prefer him to bat at three. That means James Vince is a near certainty to go in first drop on his surprise return to the squad, with dawid Malan and gary Ballance competing to bat at five.
For now, the australian who is hoping to lead his nation’s old enemy to an ashes triumph on his own soil, is determined to maintain an upbeat approach.
‘Who said it’s all doom and gloom?’ said Bayliss when given a downbeat assessment of England’s chances. ‘We’ll get on the plane and go home now, shall we?
‘It’s to australia’s advantage that they’re playing at home but they’re beatable. We wouldn’t be professional if we didn’t think we could come here and win. That’s the way the boys have been talking in the lead up to this tour.’
The only question now is whether they really can do it without stokes.