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Harry Brook, the England white-ball captain, has admitted teammates were present on the night he clashed with a nightclub bouncer in New Zealand last year.
Speaking at the start of England’s tour of Sri Lanka, Brook said that he was on his own when he was punched by a bouncer on the eve of the third one-day international against New Zealand in Wellington.
In a statement released on Friday, Brook acknowledged the presence of others that night. It followed reporting from the Telegraph that the Cricket Regulator is investigating the 26-year-old, Jacob Bethell and Josh Tongue over their conduct that evening. It was also reported that all three were fined by the England and Wales Cricket Board.
In the statement, sent to the media after England’s victory against Sri Lanka in the opening Twenty20 international in Pallekele, Brook said: “I accept responsibility for my actions in Wellington and acknowledge that others were present that evening.
“I regret my previous comments and my intention was to protect my teammates from being drawn into a situation that arose as a result of my own decisions. I have apologised and will continue to reflect on the matter. This has been a challenging period in my career, but one from which I am learning.
“I recognise that I have more to learn regarding the off-field responsibilities that come with leadership and captaincy. I remain committed to developing in this area and to improving both personally and professionally.”
Brook was involved in the altercation during his first away series as England’s limited-overs captain and reported the incident midway through the ODI the next day in Wellington. News of the incident did not break until after the Ashes, with the ECB stating that it dealt with the matter “through a formal and confidential disciplinary process”.
The batter said last week that he was fortunate still to be England captain. Brook said: “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’s U-turn comes as he prepares to lead England at the upcoming T20 World Cup, their campaign beginning next week against Nepal in Mumbai. They began their tour of Sri Lanka with a 2-1 ODI series win against Colombo, Brook hitting a match-winning century in the decider on Tuesday. He finished unbeaten on 16 in the T20 series opener on Friday as England won by 11 runs on DLS.
