England head coach Brendon McCullum agreed that the airport incident involving team security and a cameraman was not ideal, but he said that his players had handled the high scrutiny of the Ashes tour well. Cameron Green, an Australian all-rounder, also expressed sympathy for the tourists, while Brendon McCullum stated that the England players had enjoyed the banter during their time in Australia.
On Saturday, December 13, at Brisbane Airport, a member of England’s security team approached a Seven Network cameraman and attempted to prevent filming. Under Cricket Australia (CA) media guidelines, teams are off-limits for television interviews while in transit, though filming is allowed from a reasonable distance.
England captain Ben Stokes was reportedly furious with an Adelaide-based journalist who broke the guidelines, expressing his frustration at being filmed from close range. Since arriving in Australia, the England squad has faced relentless media pressure and criticism after slipping 2-0 down in the Ashes series, as their aggressive style of play has yet to deliver the expected success.
“I didn’t see [the airport incident], but obviously it wasn’t ideal. But hopefully it’s been dealt with and everyone’s able to move on. Obviously, we know coming to Australia, there’s a lot of eyeballs, there’s a lot of intensity and scrutiny on everything we do. I feel like we’ve managed ourselves pretty well throughout this tour,” said McCullum as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
“I thought the boys were outstanding. The last week we’ve had, they’re engaging with a lot of the locals and everyone was in good spirits. There was some good banter flying both ways and I think everyone treated it [well] and respected it.”
Brendon McCullum
The former New Zealand skipper also defended England for travelling to Noosa, saying the trip had been scheduled well in advance due to the gap between the Perth and Adelaide Tests. McCullum’s remarks were echoed by Green, who expressed sympathy for the visitors, admitting that he, too, had once found it difficult to adjust to the intense public and media scrutiny faced by players.
“It was quite an important period. We could give ourselves a chance to allow some of the lessons we’ve learnt over the last couple of weeks to settle and to recalibrate a little bit. I think now the freshness which we come into this Test match with will hopefully pay off,” said McCullum.
“You never like getting filmed, especially when you want to get away from it. There’s always sympathy for anyone in life that’s getting filmed in public or in a private space. It’s never a nice feeling,” said Green.
