England players are not thugs, says Strauss

Sydney : England cricket chief Andrew Strauss says his players are not “thugs” and there is no drinking culture in the team, as he slapped a midnight curfew on the Ashes tour, reports said today. The move followed Jonny Bairstow’s headbutt of Cameron Bancroft in a Perth bar late last month, which only came to light over the weekend and has dominated headlines. There is sensitivity within the England camp about off field behaviour after the controversy surrounding suspended star all-rounder Ben Stokes, who is facing a police inquiry into a fight outside a Bristol nightclub in September.
Head coach Trevor Bayliss was furious at Bairstow, calling his behaviour “dumb” on Monday, accusing him of handing Australia “ammunition”. Director of cricket Strauss said Bairstow “bumped” heads with Bancroft in what he described as an innocent greeting “that he does with his mates”. But in a meeting with the players on Monday, he laid down the law, cricket.com.au and Britain’s Daily Telegraph said.
“There is no way that you can or should be putting yourself or the team or the ECB or the game of cricket in a position where people are making judgements about the sport on the back of what you’re doing on a night out,” Strauss was quoted as saying. Both cricket.com.au and The Telegraph said Strauss had banned any player from being out after midnight for the rest of the tour. Given the Stokes controversy and the Bairstow incident, the England boss was keen to dismiss any perceptions that the team was out of control.