England’s coach Brendon McCullum and team director Rob Key are facing heavy scrutiny after Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson were given a light slap on the wrist by an ECB investigation amid revelations that the team curfew was not as clear as previously described.
In the aftermath of a resounding victory by New Zealand at the Oval to tie their Test series 1-1 with a game to play, reports out of the UK suggested Stokes defended himself against accusations of impropriety as captain by claiming he did not know the midnight curfew applied at the end of a game.
After both expressed concerns for Stokes’ mental health in the days following the nightclub incident that saw the captain and Atkinson both left out of the team for the second Test, McCullum admitted the curfew he imposed alongside Key was not handed down in writing, nor was it totally clear what the rules were.
In its combination of unwanted public heat and inconsistencies of message, the Stokes curfew affair is coming to resemble the “homeworkgate” saga that engulfed the Australian team in India in 2013, and was followed soon after by the sacking of head coach Mickey Arthur.
Stokes, who is yet to speak publicly about the episode, will resume as captain for the decisive third Test against New Zealand, starting Thursday, while Atkinson has also been recalled.
McCullum’s defence of the chaotic past few days seemed to revolve around his view that the “vibe” of the England team was clear enough, even if the wording of the curfew was not.
“Look, even if there is ambiguity I think we’ve sat here and talked about the curfew, talked about standards, talked about many things we want to be known for as a cricket team,” McCullum said.
“So I think fundamentally when you represent your country, you have certain standards you need to live up to, and you’re not just representing yourself, you’re representing your family, the fans, the country. And you’re being paid to do it.
“You’ve got to have certain standards you need to adhere to. To suggest that perhaps whilst there may not have been a hard blueprint potentially, I mean like a hard factual [curfew], everyone knew what was going on.”
Having started their jobs in a blaze of striking results and free-spirited thinking, McCullum and Key are now caught up in a maze of questions about team standards and behaviour, not unlike the kind of mess that Arthur found himself in 13 years ago.
“It is quite annoying, to be totally honest, constantly having to deal with these issues,” McCullum said. “I like creating an environment where guys feel free, they are enjoying themselves, having a good time, travelling the world, trying to handle the pressures of playing international cricket, but I don’t condone some of the stuff we have done, and I’ve been very strong on that.
“I will continue to be strong on it. In regards to making sure we have things better documented so there is no uncertainty around it, that is something we will do. It is incredibly disappointing that we have had to deal with those issues. I would like us to just become a better cricket team. It would be nice if that was our focus, rather than some of the other stuff we have had to deal with.”
The ECB investigation of the nightclub fracas in Chelsea following the first Test found that Atkinson was the victim of an unprovoked attack by a Saracens rugby player, while Stokes did not even see the incident in question.
Both players were reprimanded because they “breached specific contractual obligations that require England players to at all times maintain the highest standards of conduct and act in the best interests of England cricket”. But there was no mention of the team’s 12am curfew.
Key previously admitted that Atkinson did not know about the curfew, having been invalided out of last summer’s Ashes tour of Australia before it was discussed by the touring team. As captain, Stokes should have had a much better idea of what was expected, but the lack of a written “blueprint” turned the focus back on team management.
“My view has not changed, I’ve been speaking to him every day since the incident, and my assessment was that I was worried about him,” McCullum said of Stokes.
“To see him play some cricket and look like he was enjoying himself was really positive.
“We’ve worked together intimately for four years, we’ve achieved some cool things, and we’ve let ourselves down in other things. Our motivation and our belief and our vision for this side has not wavered.”
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Daniel Brettig is The Age’s chief cricket writer and the author of several books on cricket.Connect via X.
