Harry Brook has admitted he is fortunate still to be England’s white-ball captain after clashing with a nightclub bouncer the night before a one-day international in New Zealand, adding that he has “work to do to try to regain the trust of the players”.
Brook was involved in an altercation on the eve of England’s third one‑day international on the tour of New Zealand which led into the Ashes. Overseeing his first away series as the side’s limited-overs captain, Brook reported the incident to team management before receiving a fine reportedly close to £30,000 while keeping his job.
The England and Wales Cricket Board said it dealt with the matter “through a formal and confidential ECB disciplinary process”, adding: “The player involved has apologised and acknowledged their conduct fell below expectations on this occasion.”
In a statement, Brook apologised and said his “behaviour was wrong and brought embarrassment to both myself and the England team”.
Speaking in Colombo before England’s three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, which begins on Thursday, Brook said he did not consider resigning but the possibility of getting sacked “was definitely playing through my mind”. Brook said: “I left that decision to the hierarchy and look, if they’d have sacked me from being captain, then I’d have been perfectly fine with it as long as I was still playing cricket for England.”
Asked if he felt lucky still to be captain, Brook replied: “Probably slightly, yeah. But like I say, even if I had been sacked, I’d have held my hands up and said: ‘Look, I’ve made the mistake,’ and I’d have been perfectly fine with getting sacked from the job as captain, as long as I was still playing cricket.
“I think I’ve got a little bit of work to do to try to regain the trust of the players. I said sorry to them yesterday. I felt like I needed to say sorry for my actions. It’s not acceptable as a player, but as a captain it’s really not acceptable to do what I did in New Zealand. I’ll be the first person to say that. I hold my hands up.”
Brook said he was not with any teammates when the confrontation took place. “I was just trying to get into a club and the bouncer just clocked me, unfortunately. Like I said, I shouldn’t have been in that situation from the start. I just shouldn’t have been there. I’d had one too many drinks and I shouldn’t have been there.”
The incident, which was followed by Brook said he reported what happened midway through the third ODI in Wellington, a two-wicket defeat by New Zealand to complete a 3-0 series loss for the tourists. The incident has heightened scrutiny over the professionalism of the England setup and their drinking while on tour. Their mid-series break to Noosa during the Ashes was accused of criticised as turning into a stag-do, and in a post-series statement the ECB’s chief executive, Richard Gould, said a review into the tour would cover “planning and preparation, individual performance and behaviours”.
“I don’t think there’s a drinking culture at all [in the team],” Brook said. “We’re all old enough and grown up enough to say no if we don’t want a drink, and grown up enough to say yes if we do want a drink.”
Nevertheless, Brook confirmed that a midnight curfew has been put in place for the tour of Sri Lanka.
He added that he had spoken to Ben Stokes about the altercation, with the England Test captain having been involved in a brawl outside a Bristol nightclub in 2017. “He obviously wasn’t best pleased at what I’d done, but he tried to help me through it and he knows exactly what it feels like to be in this situation. We had a few conversations, but we quickly moved on from that and tried to look forward to the Ashes and what we could do to try to win that.”
With the white-ball captaincy still his, Brook will return to action on Thursday with his side looking to end a 10-match losing streak in ODIs away from home. Despite averaging 19.1 as an opening pair in the 4-1 Ashes defeat, Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley will reunite at the top of the order in 50-over cricket, the latter named in an ODI XI for the first time since December 2023.
“We’ve seen how good Ducky and Creeps can be up at the top in Test cricket,” said Brook. “We know they’re a dominant duo – the height difference, the left-right hand difference is something we like at the top there. They get the best out of each other.”
Meanwhile, in a retreat to the past, the ECB has named Troy Cooley as the men’s elite fast bowling lead, with the 60-year-old to coach seamers in the senior team, Lions and under‑19s. Cooley was heralded for his role as England’s fast‑bowling coach when they won the 2005 Ashes, and has since worked for Cricket Australia and the Board for Control of Cricket in India.
“Troy is one of the very best coaches in the world whose record over more than two decades speaks for itself,” said Rob Key, the England men’s director of cricket.
Elsewhere, Worcestershire have paid tribute to their former captain and England spinner Norman Gifford, who has died aged 85. Gifford won the County Championship three times with the Pears, including back-to-back in 1964 and 1965. Gifford played 17 times for England, with 15 Test appearances as well as two ODIs, when he captained the team. Gifford, who had a five-year spell as head coach at Durham, later served as club president at New Road before being awarded an honorary vice presidency role.
