{"id":1015252,"date":"2026-06-09T11:56:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T11:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1015252\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T11:56:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T11:56:35","slug":"two-men-are-to-blame-for-this-england-mess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1015252\/","title":{"rendered":"Two men are to blame for this England mess"},"content":{"rendered":"

When England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief executive Richard Gould and director of cricket Rob Key held court at Lord\u2019s in March to explain the post-Ashes review<\/a>, team culture was front and centre.<\/p>\n

On a PowerPoint presentation in the ECB boardroom at Lord\u2019s was a slide titled: \u201cCulture and environment\u201d. On it were three points:<\/p>\n

1. Positive, relaxed AND professional high performance.<\/p>\n

2. New expectations around team behaviours.<\/p>\n

3. Better individual and collective decision making.<\/p>\n

As English cricket comes to terms with yet another off-field controversy following the incident involving Test captain Ben Stokes and bowler Gus Atkinson<\/a> in a west London nightclub in the early hours of Monday morning, it is fair to say the cultural reset has failed on all three of those fronts.<\/p>\n

Beating New Zealand in the opening Test of the summer<\/a> at Lord\u2019s last Sunday was a small, tentative step in the right direction in terms of on-field results.<\/p>\n

It even partially justified the ECB\u2019s decision to stick with Key and coach Brendon McCullum following last winter\u2019s gruesome 4-1 Ashes series defeat.<\/p>\n

Yet after a winter where Gould admitted there had been several \u201csignificantly unprofessional\u201d incidents off the field, England can no longer hide from the truth \u2013 they have a team culture that is rotten to the core.<\/p>\n

\"LONDON,There is some irony in the fact Harry Brook is expected to replace Stokes as captain (Photo: Getty)<\/p>\n

The midnight curfew introduced after the tour of Australia always seemed like a performative piece of PR.<\/p>\n

The fact that England\u2019s Test captain felt emboldened to breach that very measure in the hours after his team\u2019s victory at Lord\u2019s proves just as much.<\/p>\n

With Stokes and Atkinson unlikely to be selected while the ECB investigates the incident that also involved players from Saracens Rugby Club, we are now in the bizarre position where Harry Brook is set to captain England in next week\u2019s second Test against New Zealand at The Oval.<\/p>\n

Brook is the main reason why a curfew was introduced in the first place after he was punched by a Wellington bouncer just hours before a one-day international last October.<\/p>\n

Fined around \u00a350,000 by the ECB for that late-night incident, Brook clung onto his position as white-ball captain by a thread. The incident was covered up by the ECB but five months to the day after it was revealed in the aftermath of the final Ashes Test in Sydney, we are back to square one.<\/p>\n

With Stokes\u2019s future as Test captain now in doubt, Brook could find himself leading the Test team on a permanent basis too.<\/p>\n

The issue of Stokes\u2019 position is a valid point of debate. This incident has undermined his authority as captain \u2013 indeed he should have been setting an example in terms of off-field behaviour. But the prospect of him losing his job after this while Key and McCullum remain in position does not sit well with me.<\/p>\n

It must not be forgotten that while both Stokes and Atkinson have broken \u201cteam protocols\u201d as the ECB put it, they are said not to have been the aggressors in the nightclub incident. Both are grown men and should be held responsible for their actions.<\/p>\n

\"England'sStokes and Atkinson were involved in a nightclub incident after the win over New Zealand on Sunday (Photo: AFP)<\/p>\n

Yet the ECB needs to tread a fine line here. Both players have had difficult pasts. Stokes has spoken openly about his mental health struggles that were triggered by the aftermath of the Bristol brawl in 2017 that saw him miss the 2017-18 Ashes and the death of his father in 2020. Atkinson lost his mother in the same year in a tragic car accident.<\/p>\n

The ECB has a duty of care to both players. They also have a responsibility to look at the reason why the culture of the Test team is so unprofessional.<\/p>\n

The governing body has been in denial for months about a drinking culture in the team. In March, Key\u2019s response to a question on this topic told its own story. \u201cI don\u2019t think they have a drinking problem,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s fair to put everyone into that bracket. I think the majority of those players are unbelievably diligent and will do whatever they can to try and maximise their potential and play as well as they can for England.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike a lot of teams, there\u2019s two or three players that can be irresponsible with alcohol given that opportunity. What we\u2019re trying to do is try and find that happy medium.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCullum\u2019s credibility also looks shot given his words about having a \u201ctighter grip\u201d on the players in the lead-up to the New Zealand series. \u201cFrom a cultural point of view and a discipline point of you, I think we need to make sure we\u2019re operating in the manner we want to and what\u2019s expected of us,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\n

Read more<\/p>\n

What we know: <\/strong>Ben Stokes set to be dropped by England after nightclub incident<\/a><\/p>\n

Chris Stocks: <\/strong>Strip Lord\u2019s of an Ashes Test and give it to Headingley<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cPlaying professional sport, it\u2019s a great career, but ultimately you\u2019re still responsible because you\u2019re representing your country and you\u2019ve got some responsibilities and obligations to carry yourself in the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those words now look pathetically hollow.<\/p>\n

Blame Stokes and Atkinson for breaking team protocols. But why did they feel they could get away with it? That is down to those at the top \u2013 Gould and ECB chairman Richard Thompson included.<\/p>\n

Their inertia after a winter scarred by off-field controversies has led us to where we are now. The only solution is to act decisively.<\/p>\n

The summer has already descended into chaos. McCullum and Key should both be removed. After all, it is they who have ultimately fostered a team culture that has once again embarrassed English cricket.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief executive Richard Gould and director of cricket Rob Key held…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1015253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5008],"tags":[43331,48604,748,393,7504,4884,199005,16,15],"class_list":["post-1015252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-england","tag-ben-stokes","tag-brendon-mccullum","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-england-cricket","tag-great-britain","tag-rob-key","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116720029499113238","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1015252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1015252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1015252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1015253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1015252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1015252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1015252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}