‘It’s not acceptable’: Brook admits he’s lucky to be captain after bouncer altercation
Harry Brook has admitted he is fortunate to still be England’s white-ball captain after clashing with a nightclub bouncer the night before a one-day international against New Zealand, adding that he has “work to do to try to regain the trust of the players”.As reported in the Telegraph this month, Brook was in an altercation on the eve of England’s third ODI on the tour of New Zealand which led into the Ashes.Overseeing his first away series as the side’s limited-overs captain, Brook reported the incident to team management before receiving a fine reportedly close to £30,000 while keeping his job.The England and Wales Cricket Board said it dealt with the matter “through a formal and confidential ECB disciplinary process.The player involved has apologised and acknowledged their conduct fell below expectations on this occasion.
”In a statement, Brook apologised and said his “behaviour was wrong and brought embarrassment to both myself and the England team”.Speaking in Colombo before England’s three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, which begins on Thursday, Brook said he did not consider resigning but the possibility of getting sacked “was definitely playing through 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,” Brook said.Asked if he felt lucky to still be captain, Brook replied: “Probably slightly, yeah.But like I say, 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.
“I think I’ve got a little bit of work to do to try to regain the trust of the players.I said sorry to them yesterday.I felt like I needed to say sorry 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.I’ll be the first person to say that.
I hold my hands up,”Brook said he was not with any teammates when the confrontation took place,He added: “I was just trying to get into a club and the bouncer just clocked me, unfortunately,Like I said, I shouldn’t have been in that situation from the start,I just shouldn’t have been there.
“I’d had one too many drinks and I shouldn’t have been there.”Brook said he reported what happened midway through the third ODI in Wellington, a two-wicket defeat by New Zealand to complete a 3-0 series loss for the tourists.The incident has heightened scrutiny over the professionalism of the England setup and their drinking while on tour.Their mid-series break to Noosa during the Ashes was accused of turning into a stag-do, and in a post-series statement, the ECB’s chief executive, Richard Gould, said a review into the tour would cover “planning and preparation, individual performance and behaviours”.“I don’t think there’s a drinking culture at all [in the team],” Brook said.
“We’re all old enough and grown up enough to say no if we don’t want a drink, and grown up enough to say yes if we do want a drink.”Nevertheless, Brook confirmed reports that a midnight curfew has been put in place for the tour of Sri Lanka.He added that he had spoken to Ben Stokes about the altercation, with the England Test captain having been involved in a brawl outside a Bristol nightclub in 2017.“He obviously wasn’t best pleased at what I’d done, but he tried to help me through it and he knows exactly what it feels like to be in this situation.We had a few conversations, but we quickly moved on from that and tried to look forward to the Ashes and what we could do to try to win that.
”With the white-ball captaincy still his, Brook will return to action on Thursday with his side looking to end a 10-match losing streak in ODIs away from home,Despite averaging 19,1 as an opening pair in the 4-1 Ashes defeat, Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley will reunite at the top of the order in 50-over cricket, the latter named in an ODI XI for the first time since December 2023,“We’ve seen how good Ducky and Creeps can be up at the top in Test cricket,” said Brook,“We know they’re a dominant duo – the height difference, the left-right hand difference is something we like at the top there.
They get the best out of each other.”Meanwhile, in a retreat to the past, the ECB has named Troy Cooley as their men’s elite fast bowling lead, with the 60-year-old to coach seamers in the senior team, Lions and under-19s.Cooley was heralded for his role as fast bowling coach for England when they triumphed in the 2005 Ashes, and has since worked for Cricket Australia and the Board for Control of Cricket in India.“Troy is one of the very best coaches in the world whose record over more than two decades speaks for itself,” said Rob Key, the England men’s director of cricket.Elsewhere, Worcestershire have paid tribute to their former captain and England spinner Norman Gifford, who has died aged 85.
Gifford won the County Championship three times with the Pears, including back-to-back in 1964 and 1965.Gifford played 17 times for England, with 15 Test appearances as well as two ODIs, when he captained the team.Gifford, who had a five-year spell as head coach at Durham, later served as club president at New Road before being awarded an honorary vice presidency role.
Starmer should resist calls to match Trump ‘tweet-for-tweet’, says Miliband
Britain would be in a “much worse” position if Keir Starmer had done what others were calling on him to do by matching Donald Trump “tweet-for-tweet”, a UK cabinet minister has said.Defending the prime minister’s handling of the deepening diplomatic crisis over Greenland and the US president’s threat of levying tariffs on the UK and other Nato allies, the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, declined to say if Britain would respond in kind.Speaking before Trump’s arrival at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Miliband, a former Labour leader, also told the BBC that Starmer was not travelling to the summit because there were “all kinds of other things that he’s doing”.“The bigger picture here is that the prime minister is, I think, navigating a really difficult international situation with great skill and in our national interest,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.“I know some people will want to say: ‘Why hasn’t the prime minister been matching Donald Trump tweet-for-tweet?’ All of that
Nigel Farage apologises for 17 breaches of MPs’ code of conduct
Nigel Farage has apologised for 17 breaches of the MPs’ code of conduct after failing to declare £380,000 of income on time, saying he is an “oddball” who does not do computers.The Reform UK leader and MP for Clacton said he had relied on a senior member of staff to submit his income to the register of interests and had been let down, but he took full responsibility for the error.He blamed “severe growing pains” as Reform UK had been overwhelmed by administration and emails since growing in size and gaining MPs at the 2024 election. The interests included his work as a broadcaster for GB News and payments for social media output on Google and X.Farage, who is the highest-earning MP, has previously admitted breaching parliamentary rules by failing to register a trip to Florida to appear at a fundraising event for Donald Trump
Love, actually? Starmer’s ‘keep calm’ approach to Trump comes under strain
In his account of Tony Blair’s years in power, The New Machiavelli, Jonathan Powell sets out two opposing strategies for any British prime minister in dealing with their counterpart in the White House.The first, he says, is “cutting a bella figura” – parading for show – by openly criticising the US president, for which he gives the example of the French. The other, and the approach preferred by Powell, is to do diplomacy in private and build a close relationship, in the hope of having greater influence.These days, Powell is Keir Starmer’s national security adviser and his closest, most influential lieutenant on world affairs. That his prescription for the UK’s strategy towards Donald Trump is so close to the prime minister’s natural instincts goes some way to explaining that
Minister tells MPs that China mega-embassy will have ‘clear security advantages’ – as it happened
In the Commons Dan Jarvis, the security minister, is taking questions from MPs about the decision to approve the Chinese “super-embassy”.He quoted from the letter written by Sir Ken McCallum, the MI5 director general, and Anne Keast-Butler, the GCHQ director, about this project, and put particular emphasis on this passage.It is worth reiterating the new embassy will replace seven different diplomatically-accredited sites across London which China currently operates; this consolidation should bring clear security advantages.The UK communities secretary, Steve Reed, has given permission for China to build a vast new embassy near the Tower of London after spy chiefs told him that the risks to national security could be controlled and dealt with.Donald Trump has suggested Britain’s decision to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius is among the reasons he wants to take over Greenland
The postponement of local elections could present an opportunity | Letters
One thing that’s been missing from the debate around the English devolution bill is what this change will mean for town and parish councils (More than 20 England council elections likely to be delayed until 2027, 15 January). As combined authorities start to form, it is these hyperlocal councils that will be taking the lead in shaping solutions that are genuinely rooted in place and driven by the people who live there.At Lewes town council, the conversations we are having focus on how these changes could be an opportunity for the town. Sussex is one of the six counties on the government’s priority programme for establishing a combined authority. As the possibility of a more unified county structure edges closer, we are having to think imaginatively about the future
We’re all friends really? Trump’s not so useful idiot Mike Johnson drops in on MPs | John Crace
So. That went well, then. A day after Keir Starmer gently pointed out that the US would be wrong to seize Greenland and that a period of calm diplomacy was needed, Donald Trump goes mad. Again. Having already rubbished the Norwegian prime minister for not awarding him the Nobel peace prize, the US president took aim at the UK prime minister
Welcome to Duncanville: why the road to the NBA runs through Dallas
The Spin | Ricky Ponting’s prescient call and the joy of being a cricket soothsayer
‘Pay up’: Rory McIlroy delivers Ryder Cup warning to LIV pair Hatton and Rahm
Significant sexual safety problem for women working in elite UK sport, says survey
‘Head held high’: Raducanu refuses to be critical after early Australian Open exit
‘It’s not acceptable’: Brook admits he’s lucky to be captain after bouncer altercation