“These English Contiki tourists masquerading as cricketers are about to seal their places in Ashes infamy,” Sydney Daily Telegraph said on its back page. “It is the third time in four months that England’s preparations have been derailed by an alcohol-fuelled incident,” it wrote. Earlier in the tour, England cricket chief Andrew Strauss insisted there was no drinking culture in the team, but he still slapped a midnight curfew on the Ashes tour. The Australian newspaper spared England some of the more strident criticism dished out by other media, and instead ran a story highlighting the drinking on England’s 1986-87 tour to Australia. While Australia’s media made the most of England’s problems, coach Darren Lehmann played a much straighter bat on Sunday, saying the alcohol-fuelled indiscretions were no laughing matter.

Source: The Express Tribune December 11, 2017 13:41 UTC