Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
My boys are no thugs.. but they need to wise up
STRAUSS DEFENDS PLAYERS BUT ORDERS THEM TO ‘BE SMARTER’
ANDREW STRAUSS insists he does not have a team of thugs representing English cricket following the Jonny Bairstow headbutt row.
With Ben Stokes still being investigated by police over a street brawl, the last thing Strauss needed in Australia was for allegations of violent behaviour to be levelled at another player.
The England managing director will have been relieved both players involved, Bairstow and Cameron Bancroft, talked of the bumping of heads as a friendly, if “weird”, event.
The problem for him and England though is they have allowed themselves to be viewed in a negative way despite repeated warnings after
Stokes’ fight in Bristol for them to be smarter.
Coach Trevor Bayliss admitted his players have made “dumb” decisions.
“These guys are not thugs,” said Strauss (below). “These are good, honest, hard-working cricketers who sacrifice a lot to play for England.
“But the perception of them and the reality is different at the moment and we have to take steps to make sure that reality is what people perceive of the England cricket team, not something different.
“The last thing any of us want is to be in the news for the wrong reasons and I’ll clearly be reminding the players of their obligations.
“They need to make sure they don’t put themselves in a position to be targeted. That’s where it requires a bit of intelligence and smartness. There’s a bit of naivety there. We need to be smarter.”
Bayliss thought his players might have learned a lesson in light of Stokes being left out of the Ashes squad because of the police inquiry, but hopes this latest episode will be enough for them not to be “extra dumb” in future.
He admitted he could look at tightening up curfews and imposing a booze ban if that is what it takes.
“Most people like going out at night for a couple of quiet ones,” said Bayliss. “But you have to be careful you don’t do anything stupid and if that means not having anything to drink then so be it.
“It probably means tightening up curfews. Players put curfews on themselves around matches, then it’s up to me to say we haven’t got a game for a few nights, you can head out but obviously not be stupid.
“That’s the disappointing thing, we make dumb decisions at different times. I thought the player behaviour would change after Bristol as well. They would be extra dumb and stupid if it didn’t.”
Bancroft and Bairstow played down the incident, which happened in a Perth bar at the start of the tour.
Bairstow was being playful not malicious and Bancroft said: “It was just really weird, so random, and I certainly didn’t expect it coming. A handshake or a hug would have been something I probably expected more than a headbutt.
“He hit me with a force that made me think, ‘Wow, that’s a bit weird.’ And that was it. I just took the blow quite well and moved on from it.”