England head coach Brendon McCullum has hailed white-ball captain Harry Brook as a ‘tough lad’ for his deft handling of recent controversy, not allowing it to affect him as he led his team to victory in Sri Lanka.
Brook has been in the eye of a storm since news emerged at the end of the 4-1 Ashes defeat – where England faced accusations of a “drinking culture” – that white-ball captain Brook had been involved in an altercation with a nightclub bouncer on the preceding tour of New Zealand.
Brook began the tour of Sri Lanka by apologising and insisted that he was out alone, but then had to release a statement to admit that was not true after reports that Jacob Bethell and Josh Tongue were also fined.
Amid the scrutiny, Brook managed to guide England to success in Sri Lanka as they won the one-day international series 2-1 and swept the T20 series 3-0, a timely boost as they build towards the T20 World Cup.
And while criticism of Brook and England’s management for allowing the cover-up has been rife throughout their time in Sri Lanka, McCullum has leapt to the defence of his players and staff.
“I don’t think there was any need to release the details until it was obviously found in the media,” head coach McCullum said. “The boys have made a mistake. They’re not the first ones that have ever done it, they won’t be the last ones.
“The process was done internally at the ECB, which we were all a part of. We’ve dealt with the processes of the last little while, I thought, pretty well. They’ve been severely reprimanded. And, to be honest, I find it quite annoying that we keep going on and on about it.
“Brooky obviously was trying to protect other players when he made that comment. I wasn’t aware of that comment until I was told because I don’t read the media personally. Harry’s trying to look after his mates.
“He is a strong leader, he’s a young man but he’s got a very good head on his shoulders.
“I know people will say he’s not that clever. I couldn’t disagree with that more. He wears his intelligence lightly and he’s someone that they play for in their dressing room.”
The England and Wales Cricket Board has launched an investigation into behaviour within the squad after a string of incidents this winter, including Ben Duckett being filmed seemingly intoxicated during a Noosa trip which was accused of resembling a “stag do”.
“I don’t think the boys went overboard at all,” McCullum added. “In fact, I thought a lot of the pile-on for it was completely out of line.
“Noosa is where people go to retire. There was a reason why we chose Noosa. It was being made out as this big stag do place.
“It couldn’t be further from that. If we wanted a stag do and we wanted a lair up, we would have gone to Gold Coast.
“It’s not all about what goes on on the field. If you do that, then you won’t last long in this game. Again, I feel a lot of it was completely out of order, the fallout from it or the pile-on from it.
“In the end, they’re good at cricket. That’s what their gift is. They’re not the finished articles as people yet.”
A midnight curfew has been introduced for the players while in Sri Lanka and at the upcoming T20 World Cup.
McCullum said post-Ashes that he was keen to remain in charge depending on the changes imposed.
He says that is still the case and laughed off the idea he would be opposed to the curfew.
“If you go back to the day that I walked into the job, the first thing I said to these boys is, ‘Don’t do anything that lands you on the front page of the paper and nothing good ever happens after midnight’,” McCullum said.
“I think the misconception out there is that I run this loose ship where I want everyone out on the p**s all the time and don’t give a hoot about cricket.
“It couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m fiercely determined, I’m fiercely competitive. We’re going to have a good time, we’re going to grow, we’re going to enjoy ourselves.
“I want the best for these guys. I want to make sure that we look after them.”
Additional reporting from PA
