Joe Root has expressed frustration that a winning return as England Test captain has been overshadowed by another off-field incident that saw Brydon Carse dropped for the second Test against Pakistan. Carse has been referred to the Cricket Regulator after videos on social media appeared to show the fast bowler being led away by police in handcuffs following an incident at a nightclub in Derby on Saturday. It is the latest in a series of alcohol-fuelled controversies that have dogged England since a disastrous tour of New Zealand and Australia at the end of last year.
White-ball captain Harry Brook was involved in an altercation with a nightclub bouncer in Wellington, and videos circulated of opener Ben Duckett appearing drunk on a night out during the 4-1 Ashes series thrashing by Australia. In June, former captain Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson were given written warnings and stood down from the second Test against New Zealand after an incident at a London nightclub that occurred after they broke a curfew. Stokes announced his shock retirement from international cricket during the third Test a few days later, paving the way for Root to return for a second spell as red-ball captain.
England thrashed Pakistan by an innings and 103 runs inside three days of his first match back in charge last week. I’m really disappointed that after last week’s performance, we’re sat here and we’re talking about something that is not related to it at all,” Root said at a news conference on Tuesday. It’s the fact we continuously keep making stupid mistakes away from the game and it’s detracting from what we are doing on the field.” A curfew on players going out was introduced in January after the troubled tour Down Under.
However, Root has said he will not impose a curfew because he does not believe it is a productive way to change the culture around the England squad. It’s important we create something bigger than that. It’s about having something long lasting that we can be proud of,” the 35-year-old said.
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