ECB set for U-turn on interviews of England’s Ashes players before county season

The England and Wales Cricket Board appears ready to reverse plans to stop its Ashes players speaking to the media ahead of the new county season.

The ECB had initially intervened to block England’s Test contingent from appearing at the annual round of county media days, held by all 18 teams ahead of the 2026 campaign, which begins on April 3.

Sources confirmed to the Press Association that counties were informed that those involved in England’s troubled 4-1 defeat in Australia would not be cleared to field questions.

In some cases, they had already been offered up for interview on a provisional basis and slots were subsequently cancelled.

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Gagged

It is understood the ECB preferred to put up chief executive Richard Gould and managing director of men’s cricket Rob Key for a media briefing reflecting on the events of the winter in the coming weeks and did not want individual players to front up before the management have had their say.

But that simply fuelled the idea that players were being gagged and there was also frustration from some county camps, who believe the presence of established international stars helps shine a spotlight on the work of the first-class game.

Several hours after the news emerged, the ECB stance had pivoted again, though a brief statement stopped short of confirming that all subjects would be up for discussion.

Promote

A spokesperson for the ECB said: “We want to enable the counties to promote the game ahead of the start of the domestic season, and for England players to take part in these events.

“We’re in touch with counties to enable this to happen.”

Although Jacob Bethell, Ben Duckett, Jofra Archer, Will Jacks and Brydon Carse will be absent due to involvement in the Indian Premier League, 11 other players are around for the start of the season.

That number includes captain Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Joe Root, Gus Atkinson, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Mark Wood and Shoaib Bashir.

Altercation

Those involved in the recently concluded T20 World Cup took part in interviews throughout the tournament, with white-ball captain Brook facing lengthy examinations during the warm-up series in Sri Lanka following revelations about his altercation with a bouncer in New Zealand.

Questions those within the England set-up would expect to face in any media interactions would include the future of head coach Brendon McCullum, who has declared his intention to stay on but may find the role comes with new conditions following a series of mis-steps Down Under.

Pre-series preparations, drinking habits, backroom staffing and the broader methods of the set-up all remain on the agenda, alongside selection issues in a series that saw rising star Bethell held back for the faltering Pope and Bashir frozen out after two years of full-blooded support.

Gould announced a ‘thorough review’ of the Ashes series within hours of the Ashes concluding, presumably seeking many of the same answers over the last couple of months.

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