England captain Joe Root did acknowledge he was disappointed with the turn of events that landed Brydon Carse out of the second Test and launched an investigation into his off-field activities. Partly because this was not the first time an England player has found himself amidst a budding controversy, incidentally always involving nightclubs and alcohol.
Root was grateful when the first non-Carse-related question came towards him at Lord’s on Tuesday. But that is not to say he considered his job finished after the media was done picking him apart for the incident. He knew he had a job to brief his players on how he wants things going forward and, as England pacer Josh Tongue tells it, Root was not genial in his tone doing so.
Root lays down the law
“He set [it] out straight,” said fast bowler Josh Tongue at Lord’s on Wednesday morning. “We want to be the best professionals in this environment and we want to give the next generation the best place that they can be really.
“Root has been around the England dressing room for plenty of years now. He knows what it takes to be the top professional and I think we [have] just got to do the best we can moving forward.”
One of Root’s main concerns with the frequency of these incidents is that they take the focus away from the game. Carse is the third English cricketer this summer to miss a Test while under investigation for an alcohol-related incident. Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson, previously reprimanded for the same, broke team protocols by staying out past midnight after the first Test at Lord’s against New Zealand in June.
Tongue turns focus back to cricket
Tongue, however, made sure not to spend too much time brooding on the incident and turned his focus instead to cricket.
“I just tried to move on from that situation really, and focus on the cricket,” Tongue said. “It’s an absolute privilege to play for England and especially walking out with thousands of people watching you. I want to put in as many performances as I can for England and win as many games for England as well.”
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