STRAUSS NOT FOR DRINKING

SYDNEY : Cricket chief says his players should not be called 'thugs'.

England cricket chief Andrew Strauss says his players are not 'thugs' and there is no drinking culture in the team, as he slapped a midnight curfew on the Ashes Tour, said the reports.

This move followed Jonny Bairstow's headbutt of Cameron Bancroft, in a Perth bar late last month, which only came to light over the weekend and has dominated headlines.

There is a sensitivity within the England camp about off-field behaviour after the controversy surrounding suspended star all-rounder Ben Stokes, who is facing a police inquiry into a fight outside a Bristol nightclub in September.

Head coach Trevor Bayliss was furious at Bairstow, calling his behaviour ''dumb'' on Monday, accusing of handing Australia ammunition*.

Director of cricket Strauss said Bairstow ''bumped'' heads with Bancroft in what he described as an  innocent greeting ''that he does with his mates''.

But in a meeting with the players at the team hotel in Brisbane one Monday after they lost the first Test by 10 wickets, he laid down the law, cricket.com.au and Britain's Daily Telegraph said :

''There's no way that you can or should be putting yourself or the team or the ECB or the  game of cricket in a position where people are making judgments about the sport on the back of what you're doing on a night out,'' Strauss was quoted as saying.

''And that's what players need to understand. They have been told about this before.''

He said players need to be smarter:

''That's the reality, they're adults, intelligent adults, and at times they are not using that intelligence in the right way. It is a distraction to the team and none of us want that distraction.''

Both cricket.com.au and The telegraph said Strauss had banned any player from being out after midnight for the rest of the five-test tour.