'World changed for English cricket after Stokes incident'

The star all-rounder is currently banned from the international game while authorities probe his alleged involvement in a late-night fight outside a nightclub.

Cook, a former captain who will become the first Englishman to play 150 Tests when he appears against Australia in Thursday's crucial third Ashes clash in Perth, admits his side has been slow to learn from the fall-out. Dubbed a "behavioural cleanskin", Cook senses England should have learnt their lesson months ago that standards would be intensely scrutinised in the wake of the Stokes scandal.

"It has been a very strange thing," he told reporters in Perth on Tuesday. "The world has obviously changed for the English cricket team from September. We have taken a couple of months to really realise that.

"These last two incidents have proved that. I've seen words written down, 'trivial misdemeanour at best', but since the Stokes incident times have changed for the English cricket team." Cook was referring to an off-field alcohol-related scandals involving Jonny Bairstow and Ben Duckett on the tour of Australia. "It's sad in ways because we have always been a bit different to football and been able to go under the radar and enjoy cricket for England and enjoy seeing the country outside that," Cook said.