England’s Ashes flops have been banned from speaking to the media about the disastrous series defeat in Australia before the ECB gives its own public briefing.
The governing body sent out a memo to all the county clubs earlier this week telling them to cancel pre-arranged interviews or media appearances by any of their players who were involved in England’s 4-1 Ashes hammering, with Richard Gould, the ECB chief executive, and Rob Key, the managing director, expected to give a review of the winter within the next two weeks.
Before the start of each season counties have media days at which their players and coaches who are not away on IPL duty speak to the media. These are due to be held over the next three weeks before the start of the County Championship season on April 5.
Eleven of the 18-man Ashes squad are not playing at the IPL and so would, in theory, be available for county media days but the edict from above means that a number of players — most notably from Surrey, Kent and Derbyshire — will not be able to appear at those events.
The move is almost unprecedented. In previous years, although not all players have been available at media days there are usually at least a handful who have been involved with England who give their assessment of the winter just gone and the summer ahead.
The ECB has confirmed to The Times that it has requested that England players do not speak before Gould and Key have spoken publicly, but that they will be able to talk openly after that.
It is likely that what is effectively a gagging order has been made to prevent the players from having to answer questions on the futures of Key and the head coach Brendon McCullum and about allegations of a drinking culture within the team.
The ECB wants Key, left, and Gould to have spoken publicly before it allows players to speak to the media about the AshesGareth Copley/Getty Images
The Times understands there will be a meeting next week between the ECB and McCullum which is likely to determine whether he continues as head coach. As things stand, the ECB is minded to keep faith with the former New Zealand captain but there are a number of caveats and conditions that will go with that. McCullum will have to agree to tighten up on what has been seen as an overly loose team environment, particularly when it comes to drinking.
It appears he will also be expected to broaden the backroom staff by taking on an assistant coach who will challenge him and specialist coaches and analysts from whom he must seek opinions. After England’s defeat by India in the T20 World Cup semi-finals, McCullum said he would “love to continue” as England coach but it is yet to be seen whether he and the ECB can agree on an approach that will bring improvement and evolution to the Test team in particular.
The ban on speaking to the press sparked a backlash from some of the counties who feel that withdrawing England stars from their media days will prevent them from being able to showcase the upcoming County Championship season. That resulted in a vague statement released by the ECB late on Thursday indicating something of a climbdown that would allow England players to attend the media days, but that restrictions may be imposed on journalists about keeping their questions related to county cricket and the season ahead, rather than the winter just gone.
An ECB spokesperson said: “We want to enable the counties to promote the game ahead of the start of the season, and for England players to take part in these events. We’re in touch with counties to enable this to happen.”