England captain Harry Brook calls nightclub incident a ‘terrible mistake’

Harry Brook admits he made a “terrible mistake” by getting involved in an altercation with a nightclub bouncer and accepts he is lucky to still be England captain.

The 26-year-old was fined and warned about his future conduct by the England and Wales Cricket Board after the incident the night before an ODI in New Zealand – which acted as a warm-up for the troubled Ashes series in Australia.

Brook, who was made white-ball skipper last April and promoted to vice-captain of the Test team in September, has avoided being stripped of the leadership and apologised in a statement after the news broke following the final Ashes Test in Sydney.

He faced the media in Colombo on Wednesday and revealed he took it upon himself to go out alone in Wellington and was “clocked” by a bouncer as he tried to get into a nightclub.

“I made a terrible mistake, not only as a player, but as a captain,” Brook said.

“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 a captain and I put myself in a bad situation.

“I want to say sorry to my team-mates to all the fans that travel far and wide and spend a lot of money to watch us play cricket.

“We went out for a couple of drinks beforehand and then I took it upon myself to go out for a few more and I was on my own there.”

Brook informed the ECB what had happened during that ODI in Wellington, believing doing so saved him from more severe punishment but he admits to being worried that he would be sacked as captain.

“I trusted the ECB in telling them that I made a mistake and thankfully I’m still playing cricket for England and that’s a childhood dream,” Brook added.

“I told them mid-game. I felt like I needed to reflect on it and try and come up with a plan to negate what happened.

“(Resigning) never came into my mind. I left that decision to the hierarchy and look, if they’d have sacked me from being captain, then I’d have been perfectly fine with it as long as I was still playing cricket for England.

“Probably slightly (lucky). Even if I had been sacked, I’d have held my hands up and said, ‘look, I’ve made the mistake’ and I’d have been perfectly fine with getting sacked from the job as captain, as long as I was still playing cricket.”

Brook’s incident was one of a number of controversial moments during the 4-1 Ashes defeat, with England having to answer questions around their preparation and an alleged “drinking culture” – after a mid-Ashes trip to Noosa where players were photographed drinking in bars.

That piled pressure on head coach Brendon McCullum. The New Zealander has been retained to lead England in Sri Lanka and the T20 World Cup but his future beyond that remains uncertain.

“I don’t think there’s a drinking culture at all. We’re all old enough and grown up enough to be able to say no if we don’t want to drink, and grown up enough to be able to say yes if you do want a drink,” Brook said.

“It wasn’t just drinking. We weren’t just going out and getting leathered every day. We were having a few drinks here and there. We were playing plenty of golf, going to nice cafes, having coffees but we had a few drinks here and there.”

ECB chief executive Richard Gould is conducting a formal review of the Ashes tour, including a focus on “behaviour”.

There are signs of change already, with the team and the ECB agreeing on a number of restrictions, including a midnight curfew, while in the sub-continent.

Brook is preparing to lead England in this six-match tour of Sri Lanka before their T20 World Cup campaign begins in Mumbai on February 9.

The Yorkshireman admits he needs to regain his standing within the squad.

“I think I’ve got a little bit of work to do to try and regain the trust of the players. I said sorry to them yesterday,” he added.

“I felt like I needed to say sorry for my actions. It’s not not acceptable as a player, but as a captain it’s really not acceptable to do what I did in New Zealand.”