THE SENSE that England could be in decay and decline was reinforced yesterday with the news that several players had been fined for breaches of discipline after the defeat to New Zealand on Friday.

The England management would not confirm the identities of the players, but one unconfirmed report said that Andrew Flintoff had to be pulled out of the sea at 4am after a prank with a pedalo went wrong. Another report named James Anderson, Jon Lewis, Liam Plunkett and Ian Bell as having been seen on a late-night drinking session at a nightclub on St Lucia. It is alleged many of the squad were involved in the breach of discipline.

The players had been told at the end of the New Zealand game that they would not be training yesterday ahead of today’s second group match against Canada, which England must win if they are to keep alive hopes of qualifying for the Super Eights.

The fines were imposed by coach Duncan Fletcher after a meeting attended by the England management and all the players yesterday afternoon at which the players admitted breaching team guidelines. Plunkett recently received a 20-month driving ban for a drinks-related offence.

The incident could not come at a worse time for Fletcher, whose future hangs in the balance, or the team, whose attitude has been under regular fire since the disastrous defence of the Ashes. In Australia, certain players were criticised for a reluctance to practise thoroughly, wives and girlfriends were thought to have spent too long with the team, and there was disquiet at the players going their separate ways on Christmas Day. Ken Schofield, the former director of the European golf tour, is reviewing the way the England team is run and is due to report in May, but the early indications are that the report will be unsparing.

Wives and girlfriends are due to come out to join the team in Antigua in 10 days — provided England qualify for the second phase of the tournament, which depends on them beating Canada and Kenya this week.

Friday night’s incident was not worthy of a beaten team, especially as captain Michael Vaughan had said he expected his players to work hard to improve after losing to New Zealand by six wickets.

Above all, this incident will hurt Fletcher, who was left looking out of touch yesterday when his comments at a press conference suggested he knew nothing of what had occurred the night before.

He insisted that England had the character to bounce back and still qualify for the semi-finals. “We have shown a lot of character before and hopefully we’ll show it again,” he said. “I’ve been pleased with the eagerness to do well. I don’t think that will change over the next two or three weeks.”

Less than four hours later he was basically having to fine the players whose praises he was singing for lacking professionalism. There were reports of players drinking late during the one-day series in Australia. Whenever Fletcher’s future has been questioned, as it was in Australia, his strongest defence was that he retained the support of his players. That relationship may be more uncertain than it has been for a long time.