Harry Brook admitted he was happy to still be England captain after describing his row with a nightclub bouncer the night before the international’s one-day international against New Zealand as a “terrible mistake”.
The incident in November led to Brooke being fined and warned about his future conduct by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
The 26-year-old was made white-ball captain last April and promoted to vice-captain of the Test side in September, with Brook initially apologizing in a statement after England’s final Ashes Test in Australia.
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Brook faced the media in Colombo on Wednesday ahead of their three-match ODI series with Sri Lanka, where he revealed he had taken it upon himself to go out alone in Wellington and was “punched” by a bouncer as he tried to enter a nightclub.
I made a terrible mistake, not only as a player but as a captain,” admitted Brook. “It’s very unprofessional and I should be leading from the front and showing the players how it should be as a professional cricketer and captain and I put myself in a bad situation.
“I want to apologize to my team-mates, to all the fans who travel far and wide and spend a lot of money to watch us play cricket. We went out for a few drinks before that and then I committed to going out for a few more and there I was alone.”
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Brook revealed he told the ECB what happened during that ODI in Wellington, believing it saved him from a harsher punishment, even though he was worried he would be sacked as captain.
I trusted the ECB to tell them I made a mistake and luckily I’m still playing cricket for England and it’s a childhood dream,” added Brook. “I told them in the middle of the game. I felt I had to think about it and try to come up with a plan to negate what happened.
“(Resignation) didn’t cross my mind. I left that decision up to the hierarchy and look, if they had sacked me as captain then I would have been perfectly fine with that as long as I was still playing cricket for England.”
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“Probably a bit (lucky). Even if I had been sacked, I would have put my hands up and said, ‘Look, I made a mistake’ and I would have been perfectly fine with being sacked as captain, as long as I was still playing cricket.”
Brook downplays the England team’s ‘drinking culture’
The incident was one of a number of controversial moments in recent months, with England having to answer questions about their preparation and alleged “drinking culture” after their trip to Noosa amid the Ashes.
ECB chief executive Richard Gould is conducting an official review of the Ashes tour, including a focus on “conduct”, with England players now subject to a midnight curfew among other restrictions.
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“I don’t think there’s a drinking culture at all,” insisted Brooke. “We’re all old and grown enough to say no if we don’t want to drink, and grown enough to say yes if you want a drink.”
“It wasn’t just drinking. We didn’t just go out and make out every day. We had a few drinks here and there. We played a lot of golf, went to nice cafes, drank coffee, but we had a few drinks here and there.”
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Brook is set to lead England on this six-match tour of Sri Lanka – with three ODIs followed by three T20s – before their World T20 campaign begins in Mumbai on February 9, live on Sky Sports Cricket.
“I think I still have a little bit of work to do to try to get the confidence of the players back,” Brook added. “I apologized to them yesterday (Tuesday). I felt like I had to apologize 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.
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Of the upcoming series, Brooke said: “We’re not going to take these games lightly at all. We want to go out and win and play our best cricket. Every tour we go on we want to try and win.”
“We want to win every game. We have a big series coming up here against a strong side in their own conditions and it’s a good preparation for the T20 World Cup.”
“We just weren’t consistent enough and didn’t play our best enough. We probably struggled with the aggressiveness of the way we want to play. It’s about taking advantage of good starts.”
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