England's cricketers have apologised for the scenes that saw some of them urinate on The Oval pitch after their Ashes triumph.
Surrey were understood to be very annoyed at the incident and held talks with the England and Wales Cricket Board after Australian journalists reported seeing Kevin Pietersen, Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson relieving themselves on the Test wicket in the hours after England’s 3-0 Ashes series victory had been confirmed.
The players have not been punished by the ECB but they released a statement this morning to explain their behaviour.
It read: “The England cricket team would like to state that during our celebrations after winning the Ashes at no time was there any intention to disrespect Surrey CCC, the Oval or anyone else involved in the game we love.
“As a team we pride ourselves on respecting all things cricket including the opposition and the grounds we play at. We got carried away amongst the euphoria of winning such a prestigious series and accept that some of our behaviour was inappropriate.
“If that has caused any offence to anyone we apologise for that and want to reassure people that it was a simple error of judgement more than anything else.”
There was no desire at Surrey to try to take the gloss off the Ashes win but senior figures at the county were keen to understand why the England players had felt able to act as they did. The ECB hope the county will be placated by this statement.
Meanwhile, England turn their attention to the shorter forms of the game. The first of two Twenty20 internationals against Australia takes place at Southampton tomorrow, with five one-day matches to follow next month after a single 50-over game against Ireland.
Hampshire opener Michael Carberry hopes to have the chance to play on his home ground after being recalled to the senior side for the closing weeks of the international summer. Carberry has shown excellent form in the domestic limited-overs competitions and he is keen to build upon that for his country.
He told Sky Sports: “It’s all about dealing with the pressure and hopefully I can do that. I don't see that I'm going to change anything much from what I've done before.
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“I'm pretty experienced now so I'm just going to stick to my game plan and what has worked for me over the last couple of years and hopefully it's good enough.”
