The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 2 letter word NOT UP
N
O
T
U
P
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Still in bed/indicating failure to play ball properly" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case still in bed/indicating failure to play ball properly = not up.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.