Ashes 2017: England facing massive task in Perth to try to turn series around

ENGLAND’S Contiki Tour Down Under will come to a head in Perth this week, as the miserable tourists stare down the barrel of a third Ashes whitewash from their past four visits.

Captain Joe Root and coach Trevor Bayliss face a mighty task to try to turn England’s fortunes around on this Ashes tour.

ENGLAND’S Contiki Tour Down Under will come to a head in Perth this week, as the miserable tourists stare down the barrel of a third Ashes whitewash from their past four visits.

Former star Andrew Flintoff has admitted that their 5-0 embarrassment back in 2006-07 turned into a “booze cruise”, and now Joe Root’s team are fighting a similar culture and identity crisis with the series not even halfway over.

England has not won a Test in Perth for 40 years and their out-of-form players appear to have had a greater presence in local nightclubs this week than on the practice pitches, with Moeen Ali the only man participating in a tour match.

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The selfish behaviour from Ben Stokes, Alex Hales, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Duckett has betrayed the trust of coach Trevor Bayliss.

Predecessor Andy Flower was axed after the 2013-14 whitewash, and now Bayliss could face similar scrutiny after being effectively thrown under the bus.

In the past six Ashes tours of Australia, England have won just five matches to Australia’s 20.

Three of those came in their against-the-odds 3-1 triumph in 2010-11.

Sir Donald Bradman’s 1936-37 team are the only side in Ashes history to come back from 2-0 down, and there are no superstars in this England line-up.

England spinner Moeen Ali, who doesn’t drink, struggled to hide his disappointment on Sunday.

“As professionals - with the young kids watching and hearing all the news - it’s very important we are on our best behaviour,” Moeen said.

Moeen Ali says the English players should know whow to behave.

“It’s important we inspire the younger generation to take up the game.

“These kind of things possibly can turn them away and that’s not what we want.

“A lot of the families are here now, it’s important we focus on the game and personally I won’t be going to any pub.

“Trevor Bayliss, Andrew Strauss and all the guys who get most of the flak for it ... you feel for them.

“We’re all grown men and we should know how to behave.

“Through county cricket all the way up to international cricket, the individual needs to be responsible,

“Off-field behaviour needs to improve and we all know that.”

Australia coach Darren Lehmann expressed sympathy for counterpart Bayliss and the predicament English cricket finds itself in.

“I’ve been through all that, so no, I don’t have a chuckle at that,” Lehmann said.

“You have those situations at various stages throughout your career. It’s not funny.

“It’s a case of actually making sure you’re trying the best you can to get your side prepared. For me, I don’t have a chuckle at any of that.”

Bayliss has indicated he is leaning towards an unchanged line-up for Perth, but England’s issues run far deeper than what’s transpired on the pitch to lead to Australia’s 2-0 advantage.

Flintoff said England lost all leadership back in 2006-07 when regular captain Michael Vaughan withdrew due to injury and the entire tour unravelled.

Now new skipper Joe Root and Bayliss are dealing with a similar conundrum, only a few months after Alastair Cook stepped aside.

England have tried to maintain all along that they don’t have a disciplinary problem, and that the unwanted headlines have been caused by a foolish few.

But the fact the Bairstow incident happened on the first night on tour and the Duckett beer throwing occurred on the one night a midnight curfew was lifted speaks to a major underlying drama.

Reports out of England have suggested England may now even look to blacklist repeat-offenders from future tours, without the hysteria of packing their bags for them now mid-Ashes.

Bayliss is clearly growing tired of having to explain the actions of his players, especially now it could put pressure on him to hold his job.

“To be quite honest I think it was (Duckett pouring a beer on Jimmy Anderson) fairly trivial but in the current climate it is not acceptable. Everyone has been warned about even small things can be blown out of all proportion. The ECB have also been quite strict with the boys with their message and this is quite unacceptable,” said Bayliss.

“There will be an investigation. We will get to the root of it.”

- with AAP