Stuart Broad criticises England’s cricket culture: ‘There’s a real lack of leadership’
Stuart Broad insists there is a “real lack of leadership” in England’s dressing room after another off-field drunken controversy in the last week.
Brydon Carse is being investigated over an incident in Derby on Saturday night, after videos circulating on social media showed the Durham bowler in handcuffs being led away from a nightclub by police officers. He was later “de-arrested”, police said, after agreeing to leave the area. Derbyshire Police said on Wednesday they are “investigating allegations of assault.”
Carse has been dropped from England’s squad for the second Test against Pakistan and he was not on England duty at the time of the alleged incident, after being an unused member of the squad for the first Test, which England won comfortably at Headingley, but is one of 30 players centrally contracted by the ECB.
The investigation by the Cricket Regulator comes five days after England’s returning captain Joe Root spoke of the players being “really good role models and human beings”, after a series of incidents over the past 12 months and accusations of a drinking culture.
Now, ex-England bowler Broad has had his say. “Throughout the summer, throughout the Ashes, there’s a real lack of leadership in this team,” he said on Sky Sports, ahead of the Test against Pakistan at Lord’s.
“Even with the captaincy talk… Joe Root was the only option. That’s a real stark view of what leaders are in that changing room at the moment. You’d expect the players to really look after each other.
“This England group can’t be held responsible for the situation Brydon Carse found himself in on Sunday morning [given he had just played for Durham], but it’s very much a team-led thing. What you’ve got to be careful of is tarring everyone with the same brush: ‘this England team are behaving badly’.
“Well, it’s a bit of a fresh slate. They’ve got a new captain and a new coach coming in. Let’s see how they go in the next few months because really, we’re at the stage where we can’t have any more misdemeanours like this.
“I read it on Sunday afternoon and even I was like ‘for goodness sake, what are you doing?!’ Start getting it right, get your heads down for a period of time, you’re England cricketers. And if I’m feeling that, the fans are feeling that.”
Controversy has followed England around in recent times with off-field issues during last winter’s tours, including Harry Brook being fined £30,000 following an altercation with a bouncer in Wellington the night before captaining the team in a white-ball fixture, as well as drinking during a mid-Ashes trip to Noosa.
This summer Ben Stokes broke a team curfew along with Gus Atkinson, with the pair dropped from the second Test against New Zealand at the Oval, after an incident in which a member of England security was punched at a club in London.
“If I’m being brutally honest, I’m really hacked off, really disappointed,” Root said, speaking at Lord’s on Tuesday. “I’m really disappointed that after last week’s performance, we’re sat here and we’re talking about something not related to it at all.
”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.”
