Joe Root expressed his frustration that his victorious return as England’s Test captain has been overshadowed by another off-field incident, with Brydon Carse dropped for the second Test against Pakistan.
Carse has been referred to the Cricket Regulator after videos posted on social media appeared to show the England fast bowler being escorted away from a nightclub in Derby in handcuffs on Saturday.
The incident is the latest in a series of alcohol-related controversies involving England players since the team’s disappointing tour of New Zealand and Australia late last year. White-ball captain Harry Brook was involved in an altercation with a nightclub bouncer in Wellington, while footage also emerged of opener Ben Duckett appearing intoxicated during the Ashes series, which England lost 4-1.
In June, former captain Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson received written warnings and were left out of the second Test against New Zealand after breaking a curfew during an incident at a London nightclub. Stokes announced his surprise retirement from international cricket during the third Test, allowing Root to return as England’s red-ball captain.
England defeated Pakistan by an innings and 103 runs inside three days in Root’s first match back in charge last week. However, the 35-year-old said the team’s on-field performance had been overshadowed by the latest controversy.
“If I’m being brutally honest, I’m really hacked off. 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 told reporters on Tuesday.
“It’s not the isolated incident itself, 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.” England introduced a curfew for players in January following their troubled tour of Australia and New Zealand. Root, however, said he would not bring back such a measure, as he did not believe it would help change the team’s culture.
“I still don’t believe that’s the way to go. It’s important we create something bigger than that, it’s about having something long lasting that we can be proud of,” added the 35-year-old.
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“Clearly we are not portraying ourselves how we want to and I think we have an opportunity to build a culture that is very strong, that we can be proud of, that is player driven and of course that isn’t going to happen overnight.
“We have already had conversations as a team on what is expected from this group of players, what it means to play for England, what it takes to play for England. “We want to create something that we can be proud of, that people who follow us can be proud of.”
Carse was not picked for the opening Test and has now been withdrawn from England’s squad for the second match, which begins at Lord’s on Thursday.
(with inputs from AFP)
Published on Aug 25, 2026
