Joe Root revealed he was “really hacked off” after his England teammate Brydon Carse was handcuffed on a night out in the latest drunken incident to embarrass the team.
Carse is being investigated over an incident in Derby on Saturday night, after videos circulating on social media showed the Durham bowler in handcuffs being led away from a club by police officers. He was later “de-arrested”, police said, after agreeing to leave the area.
Carse has been dropped from England’s squad for the second Test against Pakistan starting on Thursday at Lord’s. He was not on England duty at the time of the alleged incident, after being an unused member of the squad for the first Test which England won comfortably at Headingley, but is one of 30 players centrally contracted by the ECB.
The investigation by the Cricket Regulator comes five days after England’s returning captain Root spoke of the players being “really good role models and human beings” after a series of incidents and accusations of a drinking culture.
“If I’m being brutally honest, I’m really hacked off, really disappointed,” Root said, speaking at Lord’s on Tuesday. “I’m really disappointed that after last week’s performance, we’re sat here and we’re talking about something nothing related to it at all.
”In terms of the incident itself, it’s obviously with the regulator. There’s not a lot I can say on it. It’s in their hands now. I’ve spoken to Brydon – when I first found out, my first concern was him as a person, as someone I’ve spent a lot of time with in this dressing room. You obviously develop personal relationships with players, and I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn by saying he’s very upset, he’s been very apologetic, and understands his actions. I’m sure when he gets his chance, he will say that himself.
“It’s not the isolated incident itself. It’s the fact that we continually keep making stupid mistakes away from the game, and it’s detracting from what we’re doing on the field.”
Controversy has followed England around in recent times with off-field issues during last winter’s tours, including Harry Brook being fined £30,000 following an altercation with a bouncer in Wellington as well as drinking during a mid-Ashes trip to Noosa.
This summer Ben Stokes broke a team curfew along with Gus Atkinson, with the pair dropped from the second Test against New Zealand at the Oval, after an incident in which a member of England security was punched.
Root said he still didn’t believe a curfew was necessary to curb late-night incidents, but said he has reiterated what is expected from England’s players on and off the field in no uncertain terms ahead of the second Test.
“Certain things should stay in the dressing room, it’s a sacred place, but don’t worry, they are very clear on how things should be moving forwards. We’ve had a very robust discussion about where we currently sit. There’s real clarity there.”
Asked whether England players are being targeted by members of the public on nights out, Root said: “If we don’t put ourselves in certain situations, it’s not something that we have to worry about. Clearly, the landscape is very different now, where that is more readily available for everyone, and not every picture tells the truth. But at the same time, it’s understanding what impact that that could have … this is about us collectively looking after each other, looking after the dressing room, looking after our environment, and looking out for each other.”
Root himself was involved in an altercation during the 2013 Ashes series, when Australian batsman David Warner threw a punch at his England rival in a bar in Birmingham.
“I’m not sitting here asking people to be saints,” he added. “Everyone’s going to make mistakes. That [Warner confrontation] was a learning experience for me, and I think it’s important for all to understand where we current are.”
Root said he had spoken to former England captain Stokes, who was pictured in the background of the videos of his Durham teammate Carse in handcuffs. “I have spoken to Ben, mainly over concern for Carsy. Now my concern is around the team, what we can do with this team onwards.”
Root insisted this was a moment to reset, ahead of the arrival of new head coach Stephen Fleming next month.
“I think that actually we have an opportunity moving forward. Clearly, we’re not portraying ourselves how we want to, and I think we’ve got an opportunity to build a culture that’s very strong, that’s something that we can be proud of, is player-driven. Of course that’s not going to happen overnight.
“We’ve already started having conversations as a team about what is expected from this group of players, what it means to play for England, what it takes to play for England. But we want to create something that we can be proud of, and people that follow us can be proud of. We want the supporters to look at us and not just revere what we do on the field, but off it as well. And I think over the next little while, as leader of this team, with Stephen and with the group of players themselves, it is about creating something that is just that.
“I might only be in this dressing room for a couple more years, maybe a bit longer than that. There’s a group of players there that are going to be around for the next 10 years and they can achieve something over that period of time. So I’ve made it very clear what is expected of them, how we want to conduct ourselves to start with, and over time we’ve got to live it and show people what I see on a day-to-day basis in the dressing room … That’s going to take a bit of work and time.”
