The news surrounding the English cricket team hasn't been good as of late. It's just bad news after bad news. Nothing has changed this time around. Another night club incident has led to a player being arrested.
English cricketer, Brydon Carse, was briefly arrested on suspicion of being ‘drunk and disorderly’ in Derby on Saturday night; before being de-arrested, it has emerged.
Carse was dropped from England’s squad for Thursday’s second Test against Pakistan at Lord’s while the Cricket Regulator investigates the events that led to police handcuffing him outside a nightclub.
He was then de-arrested - meaning the arrest was cancelled before he was taken into custody. It was understood that the matter is now back in the hands of the police; who are looking into the precise sequence of events.
A statement by Derbyshire police read: "A man in his 30s was arrested on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly in Derby city centre on Saturday night. However the man was de-arrested shortly afterwards having agreed to leave the area."
It is understood the man in question is 31-year-old Carse, who has been replaced in the 16-man squad by Hampshire fast bowler, Sonny Baker.
A social-media video showed the moment Carse was handcuffed, with four policemen in attendance and Durham team-mates, Ben Stokes and Matthew Potts, both featuring briefly on camera.
While Carse, who hasn't played a Test since last winter's Ashes, wasn't on England duty, he has an ECB central contract.
After a year in which Harry Brook, Ben Duckett and Stokes have been involved in separate alcohol-related incidents; the sight of another England cricketer making headlines for the wrong reasons has not gone down well at Lord’s.
A punishment to "send a shiver down the whole team" may be needed after Brydon Carse became the latest England cricketer involved in a drinking controversy, according to Michael Vaughan.
"Someone is going to have to get a punishment that sends a shiver down the whole England cricket team and right down through the programme, so that everyone knows that if you misbehave or bring any kind of bad reputation on to this team, you know what's going to come," former England captain Vaughan told BBC Radio 5 Live. "It's the only punishment that will really hurt players."
In October, England white-ball captain Harry Brook was punched by a bouncer outside a nightclub in Wellington, with team-mates Jacob Bethell and Josh Tongue also present.
During the Ashes tour of Australia, opener Ben Duckett was filmed apparently drunk on England's holiday in Noosa.
in June, former Test captain Ben Stokes and pace bowler Gus Atkinson broke a team curfew and were present when a member of England's security staff was punched by a Saracens rugby player in a London nightclub.
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In this latest incident, Carse was with Durham team-mates Stokes and Matthew Potts, all of whom are under England central contracts. In Stokes' case, the England deal remains in place despite his international retirement in June.
It makes a total of eight contracted players who have been involved in or present for late-night incidents in the past year – more than a quarter of the 30 men on England deals.
In this latest occurrence, footage shared on social media on Sunday showed Carse in handcuffs, surrounded by police officers.
Athough Vaughan said it is an "awful look for the England team once again," he would "feel" for Carse if he is made an example of following the other events of the past year.
"I hope Carse is getting good support around him," said Vaughan. "He is a character who can be a little bit loose and if you give him a bit of rope he'll take a huge amount of it. He needs people around him who are giving him better advice.
"I would feel for Carse if he is the one who takes the rap for what has happened over the past nine months, but somewhere, somehow, something has to be done to set a precedent that they won't stand for that behaviour any more."
”In terms of the incident itself, it’s obviously with the regulator. There’s not a lot I can say on it. It’s in their hands now. I’ve spoken to Brydon – when I first found out, my first concern was him as a person, as someone I’ve spent a lot of time with in this dressing room. You obviously develop personal relationships with players, and I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn by saying he’s very upset, he’s been very apologetic, and understands his actions. I’m sure when he gets his chance, he will say that himself.
An ECB statement said: "Brydon Carse will no longer be available for selection for the Second Men’s Rothesay Test Match while this investigation is ongoing and the full facts are obtained."
England Test captain, Joe Root, revealed he was "really hacked off" after his England teammate Brydon Carse was handcuffed on a night out in the latest drunken incident to embarrass the team.
"In terms of the incident itself, it’s obviously with the regulator. There’s not a lot I can say on it. It’s in their hands now. I’ve spoken to Brydon – when I first found out, my first concern was him as a person, as someone I’ve spent a lot of time with in this dressing room. You obviously develop personal relationships with players, and I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn by saying he’s very upset, he’s been very apologetic, and understands his actions."
"I’m sure when he gets his chance, he will say that himself. It’s not the isolated incident itself. It’s the fact that we continually keep making stupid mistakes away from the game, and it’s detracting from what we’re doing on the field."
"Certain things should stay in the dressing room, it’s a sacred place, but don’t worry, they are very clear on how things should be moving forwards. We’ve had a very robust discussion about where we currently sit. There’s real clarity there."
Asked whether England players are being targeted by members of the public on nights out, Root said: "If we don’t put ourselves in certain situations, it’s not something that we have to worry about. Clearly, the landscape is very different now, where that is more readily available for everyone and not every picture tells the truth."
"But at the same time, it’s understanding what impact that could have ... this is about us collectively looking after each other, looking after the dressing room, looking after our environment, and looking out for each other."
Root himself was involved in an altercation during the 2013 Ashes series, when Australian batsman David Warner threw a punch at his England rival in a bar in Birmingham.
"I’m not sitting here asking people to be saints," he added. "Everyone’s going to make mistakes. That [Warner confrontation] was a learning experience for me, and I think it’s important for all to understand where we current are."
Root said he had spoken to former England captain Stokes, who was pictured in the background of the videos of his Durham team-mate Carse in handcuffs. "I have spoken to Ben, mainly over concern for Carsy. Now my concern is around the team, what we can do with this team onwards."
Root insisted this was a moment to reset, ahead of the arrival of new head coach Stephen Fleming next month.
"I think that actually we have an opportunity moving forward. Clearly, we’re not portraying ourselves how we want to, and I think we’ve got an opportunity to build a culture that’s very strong, that’s something that we can be proud of, is player-driven. Of course that’s not going to happen overnight."
"We’ve already started having conversations as a team about what is expected from this group of players, what it means to play for England, what it takes to play for England. But we want to create something that we can be proud of, and people that follow us can be proud of."
"We want the supporters to look at us and not just revere what we do on the field, but off it as well. And I think over the next little while, as leader of this team, with Stephen and with the group of players themselves, it is about creating something that is just that."
"I might only be in this dressing room for a couple more years, maybe a bit longer than that. There’s a group of players there that are going to be around for the next 10 years and they can achieve something over that period of time. So I’ve made it very clear what is expected of them, how we want to conduct ourselves to start with, and over time we’ve got to live it and show people what I see on a day-to-day basis in the dressing room ...That’s going to take a bit of work and time."
The Cricket Regulator has at is disposal a range of options, including no further action, caution or bringing a charge for a breach of the regulations – among them, bringing the game into disrepute.
I'm really not surprised by the event. It can be difficult to rip alcohol away from those who drink on a regular basis. I think the only way to solve this problem is for the UK government to introduce prohibition. That might sober them up.
I highly doubt that they might resort to bootlegging.