One need not be an expert in crisis communications to know that seeing the words “nightclub incident” in a headline for the third time in nine months is far from ideal. After Harry Brook, Jacob Bethell and Josh Tongue in Wellington came Gus Atkinson and Ben Stokes in Chelsea and, now, Brydon Carse in Derby. And that’s without even mentioning the supposed mid-Ashes boozing of Noosa.
This England team simply don’t know how to get out of their own way. Two comprehensive Test wins this summer have each been overshadowed almost immediately by an off-field misdemeanour. Now, it is worth stressing that this latest fracas is distinct from the Stokes/Atkinson incident of June. While Carse ended up in handcuffs, he was released without charge after what is understood to have been a minor incident, one which occurred not on England time but while celebrating Durham’s County Championship success over Derbyshire. But come on, chaps, read the room – it was not even a fortnight ago that new captain Joe Root was telling his team to “be adults” after abandoning a curfew brought in after the Ashes.
