The actions of some England players at the Rugby World Cup can provide their cricket counterparts with a lesson on how not to behave when involved in top-level sport, according to Andrew Strauss. The England cricket captain was asked on Thursday if the rugby team's experiences were salutary for his own players.
"We've all got to work hard to make sure the players understand their responsibilities on and off the pitch," he said. "[Otherwise] it distracts from what's important, which is what happens on the pitch. I don't want to preach to the rugby team. We just try to make sure [England cricketers] recognise their responsibilities as players."
This is made possible by a voluntary players' charter that binds England's cricketers to required standards of conduct. The dressing room has not shrunk from enforcing it during the side's progress to the top of the Test rankings.
Strauss said players had been disciplined for "all sorts of things". But, he joked, with reference to the England rugby team's infamous Queenstown night out: "Not necessarily for dwarf tossing."
Strauss said: "We've seen lots of instances such as of the use of Twitter, that's all part of the off-field code of conduct. We're not prescriptive. I believe treating people like adults is important. But things are covered by an informal code of conduct that the players themselves draw up. If someone falls foul we'd be disappointed as players rather than the management."
Strauss was speaking as the England and Wales Cricket Board announced a 10-year sponsorship deal with Investec, an investment bank which had a 12-year relationship with the RFU's autumn internationals that came to an end this year. Raymond van Niekerk, Investec's chief marketing officer, declined to comment when asked about the turmoil at Twickenham but was more expansive on a cricket sponsorship deal that is said to be worth £50m.
"Quite a few people have been commenting on the RFU at the moment so I think I will stay away from that," he said. "We had 12 years with rugby and they'd had approaches from other people willing to invest more. We have had eyes on cricket for some time. Test match cricket in the summer is one of the jewels of sport in this country."
Yet as England rugby suffers repeated indignities it was perhaps telling that Van Niekerk later described cricket as "the last refuge of the gentleman".
Even cricket's gentility cannot be taken for granted. Three Pakistan cricketers, Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir this month began custodial sentences for their part in a conspiracy to fix events in a Test against England at Lord's last year.
Coincidentally the next series England face is against Pakistan, in the United Arab Emirates in January and February.
"I hope from my point of view it is time to move on from what happened," Strauss said. "We've seen what happens to players involved and it is a strong deterrent. It shows corruption in the game is not the way forward."
Butt, Pakistan's captain in the Lord's Test in question, denied during his trial that widespread proven match-fixing would destroy interest in cricket, since some sports – such as WWE wrestling – are manifestly choreographed but remain popular.
"I'd have a differing view to that," Strauss said, "because as a player I'm not looking at it as light-hearted entertainment. We sacrifice a lot to win matches and, if someone on the other side of the fence doesn't, then it will undermine what you're doing. I don't think [the convictions] will eradicate corruption completely but it sends a good signal. The ICC [world cricket's ruling body], the boards and players need to be vigilant."
