After winning the first Test by an innings, England captain Joe Root would not have expected to be bombarded with questions about something other than that victory the next time he faced the media.
But on Tuesday, as he sat in front of the press at Lord’s, the first question thrown his way was what he thought about an “England-contracted player” being involved in another nightclub incident. The player in question was obviously Brydon Carse, who was ruled out of the second Test against Pakistan after an investigation was launched into his arrest video from a nightclub in Derby.
Needless to say, Root, who had just taken over the captaincy of the red-ball side, was disappointed with the turn of events.
“If I’m being brutally honest, I’m really hacked off,” Root said, speaking at Lord’s on Tuesday. “I’m really disappointed that after last week’s performance, we 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 [and who has] been involved 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, very apologetic, and understands his actions. I’m sure when he gets his chance, he will say that himself.”
Root frustrated by repeated off-field incidents
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 broke team protocols by staying out past midnight after the first Test at Lord’s against New Zealand in June. The two players ended up at a Chelsea nightclub where a rugby player attacked Atkinson. The aftermath of this particular incident had a lot to do with Stokes’ eventual retirement from cricket.
Root is wary of how such off-field issues are affecting how the players focus on-field, part of which is reflected through their game results. The last time England won a red-ball series was in December 2024.
“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.”
The incident took place mere days after England’s new captain Joe Root lifted the nighttime curfew from his team, expecting them to behave like “grown adults” in the absence of any restriction.
The curfew, which was placed during the Bazball era, was triggered after a few similar incidents, notably including white-ball skipper Harry Brook being punched by a nightclub bouncer in New Zealand last winter and the team’s heavy drinking in Noosa in the gap between the second and third Ashes games.
Root, however, still stands by his decision to uplift the curfew.
“I still don’t believe that’s the way to go,” he said. “It’s important we create something bigger than that. It’s about having something long-lasting that we can be proud of, that we can pass on to the next generation of players for them to evolve and be proud of.”
Carse incident comes with some nuance
Brydon wasn’t with the England squad at the time of the incident, having been released to play for Durham in the County Championship after he was not selected in the playing XI for the Headingley Test. This does add a bit of nuance to his case, as he was not on duty, but Joe Root refrained from adding any speculation as to how this will affect his punishment.
“What I will say is that actually, we have an opportunity moving forward,” Root said. “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, something that we can be proud of, that’s player-driven.
“Of course, that’s not going to happen overnight. We’ve already had 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.”
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