Remember me
A matter of hours after Australia hit the winning runs in Sydney to seal a crushing 4-1 win, breaking news from the Telegraph plunged an already beaten squad closer to the cliff edge of crisis.
It reported that Brook, Test vice-captain in Australia and the white-ball skipper who will lead his country in next month’s T20 World Cup, had become embroiled in a scuffle with a nightclub bouncer in Wellington on October 31.
England’s Harry Brook bites his nails during the fifth Test against Australia in Sydney (Robbie Stephenson/PA).
That was the night before the third ODI against New Zealand, on a tour that had been billed as a central part of England’s Ashes preparation for Brook, several other players and the coaching staff.
It is the latest unwelcome episode to dog a winter that has seen England heavily criticised for a mid-Ashes break to the beach resort of Noosa – which some onlookers said resembled a boozy ‘stag do’.
And concerns over the looseness of the regime’s professional boundaries under managing director of men’s cricket Rob Key and head coach Brendon McCullum are now at fever pitch, with both men’s jobs in the line of fire.
ECB chief executive Richard Gould had already announced an immediate formal review of the Ashes debacle, pointedly targeting: “tour planning and preparation, individual performance and behaviour” and promising “necessary changes over the coming months”.
Brook, who was among several players seen indulging in lengthy drinking sessions in Noosa between the second and third Test matches in Australia, offered a full apology for his actions in New Zealand, for which he is understood to have been hit with a £30,000 fine and a conduct warning.
England’s Harry Brook (left) and Brydon Carse (right) reflect on an Ashes series defeat after a five-wicket loss in the final Test in Sydney (Robbie Stephenson/PA).
“I want to apologise for my actions. I fully accept that my behaviour was wrong and brought embarrassment to both myself and the England team,” he said in a personal statement.
“Representing England is the greatest honour of all, which I take seriously and I am deeply sorry for letting down my team-mates, coaches and supporters. I have reflected on the lessons it has taught me about responsibility, professionalism and the standards expected of those representing your country.
“I am determined to learn from this mistake and to rebuild trust through my future actions, both on and off the field. I apologise unreservedly and will work hard to ensure this does not happen again.”
The ECB followed up with its own acknowledgement, adding: “We are aware of this incident and it has been dealt with through a formal and confidential ECB disciplinary process. The player involved has apologised and acknowledged their conduct fell below expectations on this occasion.”
The ECB previously also found itself in fire-fighting mode after mobile phone footage emerged showing a seemingly intoxicated Ben Duckett involved in a tetchy late-night exchange with fans in Noosa – one of who advised him to “get an Uber to the nets”.
Key addressed concerns about the team’s drinking in Noosa after they surrendered the series 3-0, stating: “Drinking excessive amounts of alcohol for an international cricket team is not something that I’d expect to see at any stage. If it goes into where they’re drinking lots and it’s a stag do…that’s completely unacceptable.
England managing director of cricket Rob Key looks on during a nets session at the Sydney Cricket Ground (Robbie Stephenson/PA).
“From everything that I’ve heard so far, they actually were pretty well behaved. Very well behaved.”
Key was also asked about the New Zealand tour, specifically unverified social media clips which purported to show Brook and Jacob Bethell out drinking on the night of October 31.
“I didn’t feel like that was worthy of formal warnings, but it was probably worthy of informal ones,” he said.
“I think that was a bit of a wake-up call actually for what they’re going into (in Australia).”
England players have been afforded significant freedoms by Key and McCullum, who took over in the aftermath of the stifling Covid lockdown periods and sought to inject a sense of enjoyment and camaraderie back into the dressing room environment.
But things have been allowed to drift too far in the other direction, with players spotted indulging late night drinking sessions at various points on a tour McCullum had branded as “the biggest series of all of our lives”.
England head coach Brendon McCullum will come under scrutiny in the wake of the Ashes series defeat in Australia (Robbie Stephenson/PA).
Gould and ECB chair Richard Thompson are likely to demand a stricter ethos moving forward but McCullum, speaking at the end of the final Test and before the news of Brook’s indiscretion, suggested he would not be keen to take orders from above.
“I’m not against assistance, but I also have a firm belief in how to get the best out of these players,” he told BBC’s Test Match Special.
“Am I for being told what to do? Of course I’m not. But at the same time, I’m not pig-headed [enough] to think there’s not some areas that we can improve on, once we digest what’s unfolded over the last two months and start to plot and plan a way forward.
“If you’re the man in the chair to do so then you do so with a similar conviction in your methods – albeit with a couple of tweaks.”