England white-ball captain Harry Brook has been lucky to be retained as white-ball captain for the national team following an altercation with a bouncer in New Zealand. Brooke has apologized to her teammates and management and promised to regain their trust.
The England team has been struggling with many setbacks in recent times. The great players of the country’s sports have been seen in serious condition, which shows gross indiscipline. Recently, during the New Zealand and then Ashes tour, England players were accused of drinking alcohol.
Players like Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell and England’s white-ball captain and red-ball vice-captain Harry Brook were seen drinking non-stop with their teammates. The team’s Noosa holidays were also reviewed, but ECB director Rob Key cleared them of any matters that required clarification.
Harry Brook apologizes to England teammates and ECB for drunken actions in New Zealand
Although the ECB has not punished its players very harshly for irregular activities, even though it has badly affected the match results, but the reputation of English cricketers has definitely diminished in the eyes of the people.
Harry Brook became involved in an altercation with a bouncer at a New Zealand nightclub before the final match of the ODI series and was fined. £30,000 as well as a final warning for his off-field activities. He came very close to being dismissed from the captaincy of the England team.
“Obviously, I made a terrible mistake,” said Harry Brook. “Not just as a player, but as a captain. This is very unprofessional and I should step up and lead.”
“I have learned from my mistakes, I have reflected a lot on what happened, and I know it was not the right thing to do. I want to apologize to my teammates, to all the fans who travel far and wide to watch, spend a lot of money to see us play cricket and support us, and to the ECB for putting them in a difficult position, and it will never happen again. I am extremely sorry,” Harry Brook said.
The England captain had said that he needed to regain the trust of his players and hence he started by apologizing to them.
“I think I have a bit of work to do to regain the players’ trust. I apologized to them yesterday. I felt I needed to apologize for my actions. As a player it’s not acceptable, but as a captain, it’s really not acceptable to do what I did in New Zealand. I’ll be the first one to say that. I hold my hands up.”
Harry Brook feels lucky not to be sacked as England white-ball captain
Harry Brook himself acknowledged the incident and reported it to management midway through the game the next day. Brook, who as a youngster was regarded as one of England’s greatest ever players, was likely to lose the role.
When asked if he felt lucky to retain the captaincy for England in the two white-ball formats, he replied, “Probably, yes.”
“If I had been sacked, I would have thrown my hands up and said: ‘Look, I’ve made a mistake’ and as long as I was playing cricket for England, I was absolutely fine with it. “I’m glad I told them. It was a childhood dream to play cricket for England, so I’m glad I told him and we made it happen,” he said.
“No, there is no drinking culture here,” Harry Brook defends England’s honor
Following the Noosa incident and the drunken English players in Australia, there was increasing speculation that there was a culture of drinking within the England cricket team.
“No, there is no drinking culture here,” Brooke insisted. Brook claimed, “Like I said, everyone has the ability to say no. If you want a drink, if you don’t want a drink, you’re allowed to make that decision for yourself.”
He further said that in Australia it is not just about drinking alcohol. Neither player was just drinking all day, and every day, they went out, played golf, went to cafes, had coffee and had a few drinks together. He also defended his actions, claiming that “What do humans do?”
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