• Channel Seven airs footage of Brisbane airport incident

• ‘This matter is being taken seriously,’ says broadcaster

England’s embattled tour of Australia suffered a public relations setback on Saturday following a testy altercation between a member of security staff and a local camera operator at Brisbane airport.

In footage released by Channel Seven, England’s minder Colin Rhooms is heard repeatedly telling the camera operator Nick Carrigan to “get out of my face, mate” and eventually pushing him back as he attempted to film players in transit.

If anyone knows how to weather a whitewash, it’s the merry band of England fans marking their 30th anniversary at their spiritual home

Courage, soldier. Ben Stokes’s England team may be heading into the third Ashes Test already 2-0 down, but not everyone in English cricket is fazed. There is one group tailor-made for this scenario, a crack(pot) unit who can lay claim to be the ultimate doomsday preppers. Have your dreams been shattered? Are you crushed beneath the weight of unmet expectation? Then it’s time to join the Barmy Army, son.

Already their advance guard are moving in on Adelaide, the city where they officially formed 30 years ago. England’s most famous – and per capita noisiest – travelling fans will be hoping for an anniversary win-against-the-odds, like the one they witnessed on that 1994-95 tour. And whatever happens on the pitch, off it the parties will be long and loud.

The host nation’s newspapers could barely contain their delight after Ben Stokes and his team were spotted relaxing before the crucial third Test

A mid-tour jaunt by the England cricket team to a Queensland beach town was covered gleefully by Australia’s tabloid newspapers, which splashed a shirtless Ben Stokes across their pages amid taunting headlines.

“On back foot, England bails to the beach”, one read. “Life’s a beach, even for the sinking Poms,” added another. “Sun’s out, runs out”, offered a third, alongside a photo of Stokes’s tattooed biceps.

This squad aren’t just throwing away the series, they’re messing up the minds of the young cricketers I try to coach

The cracks are starting to show with this England team and with the narrative we’ve been fed for three years after another defeat. Their identity of always taking the aggressive option, of relentlessly putting pressure on their opponents, isn’t holding up to scrutiny. So far in this series they haven’t had the strength needed to achieve it, and they haven’t had the skills either.

I was confident that they could win the Ashes this time, mainly because I thought there was quality in the squad and that they had adapted their game to add intelligence and adaptability to their armoury. It’s becoming clear that neither of those beliefs were completely true. And meanwhile I’m seeing things at home that make me worry that this team aren’t just messing up this series, they’re messing up a whole generation of young cricketers.