Joe Root has spoken of his desire to remodel England’s dressing room into a group that inspires “supporters to look at us and not just revere what we do on the field but off it as well” after the conduct of the nation’s cricketers was once again called into question following the emergence of videos showing Brydon Carse being escorted from a Derby nightclub in handcuffs late on Saturday night.
The England captain said he was “really hacked off” to be forced once again to address player behaviour, after a string of similar stories over the past eight months. But he repeatedly and pointedly referred to Carse’s misdemeanour, which led to the 31-year-old being briefly arrested on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly before being de-arrested and released without charge, as an “isolated incident”.
“I’m not trying to sit here and ask people to be saints,” he said. “I just think that if we don’t put ourselves in certain situations it’s not something we have to worry about.” The 35-year-old talked of the unwritten code of conduct that players will be expected to abide by: “It doesn’t have to be rocket science. As players you get judged on the decisions you make on the field and off it too. That’s the world that we’re living in.
“It’s not the isolated incident itself, I think it is 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.
“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’s player-driven. Of course that’s not going to happen overnight. But we want to create something that we can be proud of and people that follow us can be proud of.
“The most important thing is we take this opportunity. We have a chance to build something that lives alongside what we achieved [in beating Pakistan at Headingley] last week. I thought the way we played was exceptional and we have to align that with being exceptional off the field as well, and understand what that looks like and how we want to represent ourselves and our nation. We’re going to have to earn a lot of trust back, and it’s something we’re going to have to live and breathe consistently.”
As the squad gathered ahead of the second Test against Pakistan, which starts at Lord’s on Thursday, and in the absence of their full-time coach, Stephen Fleming, who is due to arrive in the country next month, Root led what he termed “a very robust discussion” during which the group were reminded of their responsibilities as international cricketers.
“There are certain things that I do believe should stay in a dressing room. It is a sacred place,” he said of that conversation. “But don’t worry, they are very clear of what is expected of them and how we need to go about things moving forward.”
One of Root’s first acts after returning to the captaincy at the end of last month was to cancel the curfew that had been imposed on players after a string of embarrassing incidents over the winter.
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“I still don’t believe that’s the way to go,” he said on Tuesday. “I think it’s important that we create something bigger than that. It’s about having something long-lasting that we can pass on to the next generation of players. I might only be in this dressing room for a couple more years.
“There’s a group of players there that are going to be around for the next 10, and they can live and breathe something and achieve something over that period of time. And this is where that can start. I’ve made it very clear what is expected of them.”