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‘I can’t hear you mate’

England have shut up shop and refused to speak to the Australian press in the wake of Jonathan Trott’s departure from the touring party.

It put the England players in an awkward position when the squad was interviewed at Brisbane’s airport, with captain Alastair Cook and batting coach Graham Gooch left to stare blankly, not responding to reporters’ questions while waiting to go through security.

Kevin Pietersen donned his headphones and dark sunglasses indoors and, tapping his ears said in a loud voice ‘I can’t hear you, I can’t hear you mate’ to reporters.

England’s ill feeling towards Australian media has been growing after Brisbane newspaper The Courier-Mail photoshopped Pietersen into Queensland paraphernalia after getting into a Twitter spat with a journalist. The paper also imposed a ban on printing Stuart Broad’s name, instead referring to him as “the 27-year-old English medium-pacer”

England banned Australian media from the press conference where coach Andy Flower announced Trott had flown home suffering from a stress-related issue.

The team have also banned radio station Triple M for the remainder of the tour after the station flew banners poking fun at the team over the Gabba last week.

The banners included ‘KP you’re not even English’, ‘Enjoying Brissy yet KP?’ and ‘Who needs five days? Go Aussies’ . An England team spokesman said: “There’ll be no interviews for Triple M on this tour after the events of the past week.”

England travelled from Brisbane to Alice Springs today ahead of a two-day game against a Chairman’s XI at Traeger Park starting on Friday.