England managing director Rob Key urged players to ‘be smart’ during the Ashes and not ‘get caught doing stupid things’ during the five-Test series in Australia. Visiting England teams are often subjected to hostile media who dissent every action taken by the players. Previous incidents include Jonny Bairstow being accused of headbutting Australian cricketer Cameron Bancroft in Perth and Ben Duckett, who was with the England Lions at the time, threw a drink over James Anderson’s head, after the former England pacer had done the same.
Key said that those sorts of incidents tended to be picked up by the media and made into mountains and that the touring squad needed to avoid it.
“They’ve got to be smart, right? I hope they’re all listening to this, players, because it saves me sending a WhatsApp or an email and telling them ‘you’ve got to be smart’ – because when they get there, they’re not going to be anonymous,” Key said to the For the Love of Cricket podcast.
He then said, “I remember in 2002 Nasser Hussain doing the first press conference saying ‘we’ve got to catch all our catches, we can’t afford to be having to make 15, 20 opportunities an innings’, which is absolutely right. The next day at practice, the West Australian newspaper had pictures of John Crawley dropping a catch.”
Key also spoke about Ollie Pope being removed from England’s vice-captaincy and said that the No 3 spot was still his, despite there being a view that Jacob Bethell could take his place in the England squad.
“There’s a lot made about Bethell and Pope, that’s going to be the story,” said Key. “At the moment, Pope is the one that’s in possession of that. There’s a bit of cricket for Bethell to come. And we don’t make these decisions until right before because there’s no point worrying and thinking about something until you have to.”
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