Gary Ballance pictured in a Nottingham club after the completion of the Trent Bridge Test against India. Photograph: The Tab/SWNS
Gary Ballance has been “reminded of his responsibilities” by the England coach, Peter Moores, after photographs emerged of him dancing topless – and indisputably legless – in a Nottingham nightclub on Sunday after the completion of the Trent Bridge Test against India.
Ballance was pictured on The Tab, a national student website, in a dishevelled state of undress and intoxication at Pandora’s Box, with an eyewitness quoted as saying: “They had to carry him out at the end of the night. He was standing outside with his top off screaming ‘England! England! England!’”
The Tab claimed that the 24-year-old – who was born in Zimbabwe, completed his education at Harrow and scored a maiden Test century at Lord’s against Sri Lanka in June after making his Test debut in Sydney in the winter – was joined at the club by his Yorkshire team-mates Liam Plunkett and Joe Root, and Lancashire’s Jimmy Anderson.
“I am aware that some of the England players were caught on camera relaxing after the conclusion of the recent Trent Bridge Test match,” said Moores.
“As the players had been released at the end of the first Test and were not due to meet up to begin preparations for the second Test until Monday evening, and there were no suggestions of impropriety, there is no need for any disciplinary action. I will, however, be reminding all players of their responsibilities to uphold the best possible image for England cricket.”
England’s preparations for the second Test against India, which starts at Lord’s on Thursday with Ballance a definite starter, had already been disrupted by the increasingly bitter row that has followed Anderson’s clash with Ravindra Jadeja in the Trent Bridge pavilion on the second day of the match.
India’s captain, MS Dhoni, rejected a suggestion from England’s Alastair Cook that the tourists had deliberately ramped up the row in an effort to have Anderson suspended, and England have responded by submitting charges against Jadeja to the International Cricket Council, with the team manager, Phil Neale, accusing him of approaching Anderson “in an aggressive and threatening manner” during the lunch interval.
Significantly, England are charging Jadeja with only a level-two offence, which is usually punished by a fine rather than a suspension, and they will be hoping the judicial commissioner to be appointed by the ICC agrees with their view of the severity of the incident.
Cook said he was “surprised” India had charged Anderson with a level-three offence, which could rule him out of the third and fourth matches in the five-Test series at Southampton and his home county ground of Old Trafford, saying: “In my opinion, it’s a big mountain out of a molehill.”
The ICC had sent a lawyer to Nottingham last weekend but India refused to downgrade their charges against Anderson.
“We felt what happened was wrong so we went ahead with the charges,” said Dhoni. “It’s not something we have done, you know, let’s realise the facts. In no way can I go and touch you or you can come and touch me. You can put it in whatever way possible but there are certain things that need to be followed and should be followed.
“We talk a lot about the spirit of the game and the guidelines that need to be followed. There have been a few individuals from our side in the past that have crossed that line. It’s a difficult one. You can be aggressive, you can be vocal and that’s fine but there certain guidelines that are laid and we should be following all of them.”
Speaking before the charges against Jadeja were published, Dhoni had praised the player for his restraint. “I think it was good on Jadeja not to really do something,” said the India captain. “It could have gone a bit far but I felt he addressed it in the most appropriate manner. That’s something we will have to learn and move forward. Somebody has to back off at the right time. At the end of the day we play a sport and a lot of people look up to us. There is a lot of responsibility on us.”
England expect a preliminary hearing on Tuesday, the day after the Lord’s Test is due to end, but that could be quickly followed by a full hearing, meaning a decision before the start of the third Test in Southampton on Sunday week. If Anderson is found guilty of a level-three offence he would be banned for at least two Tests.
