Notoriety of English cricketers: Not a bad game, but their off-field actions increased the controversy
Delhi: After the 4-1 defeat in the Ashes, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had started a review of the players’ performance in the series, but something else opened the box. During the series, even when the challenge was ahead, on many occasions such stories of excessive drinking sessions, fun in casinos and fights came to light which made it clear that the team was neither under the control of the coach nor of Captain Stokes. The situation has come to such a pass that the board is on the verge of imposing curfew on the team even before the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka and the T20 World Cup starting soon. At least such a shameful condition of the England team was not expected under the captaincy of Ben Stokes. The team had left from England to take advantage of the best opportunity to win the Ashes.
However, those who know English cricket are not surprised to see all this because this is not the first time that English cricketers have come into the news more for the news of intoxication and debauchery outside the ground than for their game. The very popular cartoon of Punch newspaper many years ago is still true today. This cartoon by Drew Stoddart, published after the English players lost the fourth Test in 1895, showed English cricketers drunk, in a bar, on a table and fallen on the ground, with the caption ‘This is the reason for the defeat’. Top 5 stories of recent years:
Old controversies related to English cricket team
1. Clash between Jonny Bairstow and Cameron Bancroft during the 2017-18 Ashes tour After this, when this matter was being investigated, a flood of stories of alcohol and fun, just like today, opened up. The situation was so bad that the board had to impose curfew on the team and the coach of the next tour had clear instructions that no one should go in or out of the bar without permission.
2. Current captain Ben Stokes He then became a source of immense notoriety not only for himself but also for English cricket when in 2018, news of his fights and assault outside an infamous nightclub in Bristol (almost similar to what happened now when ODI captain Harry Brook got into a fight with a bouncer after being denied entry into a nightclub in New Zealand) and photos came to the media.
3. When the team was in Hobart Hotel during the 2021-22 tour of Australia So the situation came that the assistant coach Graham Thorpe, who was given the responsibility of keeping the players under control, was himself smoking an intoxicating cigar (in Tasmania, smoking was allowed only in the open at that time). On the complaint of other people, the police came because it was 6 o’clock in the morning and the English cricketers were creating so much ruckus under the influence that the whole atmosphere was spoiled. Interestingly, Graham Thorpe filmed the footage of England’s Ashes star being thrown out of the bar. Even after this, curfew was imposed on the team.
4. England and Wales Cricket Board hid this incident of February 2013 But Stokes did not write this in his book. Then the England Lions team was on Australia tour (like the India A team) and two players Ben Stokes and Matt Coles were caught for misdeeds under the influence of alcohol. The team coach was Andy Flower and he was so angry that he sent Stokes and Coles back home midway through the tour. Stokes wrote that for this reason Coles could never play for England.
5. England also lost 4 Tests during the 2017-18 Ashes.. In the same tour, the infamy was not only due to the incident of Jonny Bairstow clashing with Australian batsman Cameron Bancroft. Once there, Ben Duckett poured a drink on James Anderson. There was so much noise over this that Duckett was dropped from the team, fined and given a final written warning. Even then, the same Duckett was involved in most of the drunken incidents during this tour.
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