England white-ball captain Harry Brook has admitted teammates were present the night he collided with a nightclub bouncer in New Zealand last year.
Brook said at the start of England’s tour of Sri Lanka that he was on his own when he was hit by a bouncer on the eve of the third one-day international against New Zealand in Wellington.
In a statement released Friday, Brook acknowledged the presence of others that evening. It followed reports from the Telegraph that the Cricket Regulator is investigating 26-year-old Jacob Bethell and Josh Tongue over their behavior that evening. It was also reported that all three had been fined by the England and Wales Cricket Board.
In the statement, which was sent to the media after England’s victory over 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 apologized 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 recognize that I still have more to learn about the off-field responsibilities that come with leadership and captaincy. I remain committed to developing and improving in this area both personally and professionally.”
Brook was involved in the altercation during his first away series as England limited-overs captain and reported the incident midway through the ODI defeat in Wellington the following day. News of the incident only emerged after the Ashes, with the ECB stating that it had dealt with the matter “through a formal and confidential disciplinary process”.
The batsman accepted last week that he was lucky to still be England captain. Brook said: “Even if I had been sacked, I would have held my hands up and said, ‘Look, I made the mistake’, and it would have been fine if I was sacked as captain as long as I was still playing cricket.
“I think I still have some work to do to regain the trust of the players. I said sorry to them yesterday. I felt like I had 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 to say that. I’m holding my hands up.”
Brook’s turnaround comes as he prepares to lead England in the upcoming T20 World Cup, their campaign starting next week against Nepal in Mumbai. They started their tour of Sri Lanka with a 2-1 win in the ODI series in Colombo, with Brook reaching 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 at DLS.
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