Coach Trevor Bayliss warns England to wise up after Jonny Bairstow headbutt incident

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Brisbane, November 27: Trevor Bayliss said his England players must stop making "dumb decisions" after an incident involving Jonny Bairstow which he felt armed Australia with "ammunition" in their bid to regain the Ashes.

Bayliss and Bairstow played down reports of the England wicketkeeper-batsman headbutting Australia batsman Cameron Bancroft in a Perth bar at the start of the tour after the tourists suffered a 10-wicket defeat in the first Test at the Gabba on Monday.

Bancroft explained after Australia's resounding victory that Bairstow "just greeted me with a headbutt kind of thing" but insisted there was no malice on the Yorkshireman's part.

Bairstow stated that he wanted to "swipe this underneath the table" and the incident had been blown out of proportion, while Bayliss confirmed no disciplinary action will be taken.

The England head coach has had to contend with flying out for the Ashes without Ben Stokes after the vice-captain was arrested on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm on a night out in Bristol and he urged the team to stop being so naive off the field.

"It has given not just the Australian team but the media the chance to get involved with stuff other than cricket," said Bayliss.

"That's the disappointing thing and that's what we've got to be better at. We can't put ourselves in these situations however small they are. It's a distraction.

"We want to get on with the cricket. But it has given the opposition ammunition to put pressure on as well. We are here to play cricket and we have to find a way to play as well as we can and have no distractions from outside that.

"There was no malice in it and Jonny did not break the code of conduct we had in place before this [but] I'm sure there will be a review of that. Probably we will tighten up curfews. I'm sure there will be further discussion between management and players.

"We have to be smarter. Most people like going out at night for couple of quiet ones, but you have to be careful you don't do anything stupid. If that means not having anything to drink then so be it."

He added: "You can head out [for a night out], but obviously not be stupid. That's the disappointing thing, we make dumb decisions at different times. Yes, I thought players' behaviour would change after Bristol as well. They would be extra dumb and stupid if it didn't."

Source: OPTA