Being punched by a nightclub bouncer isn’t a pleasant feeling, especially for a batsman more used to dealing with the cricketing variety. Apart from the physical pain and momentary embarrassment, Harry Brook had the additional mortification of apologising for his conduct to all and sundry.
England’s white-ball skipper and Test vice-captain, who often had England fans and experts holding their heads due to how he got out during the recent Ashes series, had been in the news for his off-field activities as well.
Brook was involved in the said altercation on the night before an ODI in Wellington on November 1 – in which he led England to defeat, with the skipper contributing six runs. It was his first series abroad as captain. He was fined 30,000 pounds and given a final warning by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), though as the incident occurred just a few weeks before the Ashes, it only came to light more than two months later when the team had already been comprehensively outclassed by the Australians.
England’s Harry Brook reacts after he was dismissed during play on day four of the fifth and final Ashes cricket test between England and Australia in Sydney. (AP Photo)Regretting the incident, Brook admitted that “I’ve made a terrible mistake” and fans “have every right to be annoyed.”
“I’ve put myself in a situation which I shouldn’t have done. I’m extremely sorry to all the supporters for what I did in New Zealand,” he told BBC Sport.
In Brook’s own words: “I shouldn’t have been there. I was trying to get into a club and the bouncer just clocked me, unfortunately. I wouldn’t say I was absolutely leathered. I’d had one too many drinks,” adding that the time he returned to the team hotel was “late enough.”
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He said he now needed to mend fences with the England cricket supporters.
“I’ve got to try and regain their trust again in my ability, in my cricket on the field and off the field. I’m hoping that they can expect I’ll be slightly different away from the game. I’ll be more professional,” the middle-order batter said.
“That’s what I’ve got to do now for the rest of my career, hopefully. I just want to be back playing as good cricket as I possibly can be.”
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However, Brook denied that his off-field conduct had any role in his performance Down Under.
“Did it affect my cricket? I don’t think so. I’d have still played the same way. Obviously, I didn’t get a score that I’d have liked, but I still played the same way.”
Brook was the second-highest scorer for the visitors with 358 runs, the 26-year-old passed 50 just twice in 10 innings, often getting out to reckless shots.
Several experts believed that England’s preparation and approach for the Ashes left a lot to be desired. Several instances of drinking in public, during their mid-series break in Noosa, have come to light. Brook was one of the players pictured in bars while Ben Duckett appeared on a video put out on social media in which he appeared to be drunk and unsure how to return to the team hotel.
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However, after the Ashes debacle, the England team management has imposed a midnight curfew on the players and staff, starting from the ongoing tour of Sri Lanka.
