Brydon Carse has been stood down from England’s squad for the second Test against Pakistan this week while the footage of him in police handcuffs outside a bar in Derby city centre is investigated by the sport’s disciplinary body.
Carse was filmed by a member of the public while he was detained briefly on suspicion of “being drunk and disorderly” outside Molly Malone’s Irish Tavern in the early hours of Sunday morning. The 31-year-old fast bowler had been celebrating victory against Derbyshire in the County Championship with his Durham teammates.
The former England captain Ben Stokes and the fast bowler Matthew Potts were also present at the scene, with Carse said to have been in handcuffs for “a few minutes” before he agreed to move on and was let go without charge.
Though not officially on England duty at the time – he was in the squad for the first Test in Leeds last week but was then sent to play for Durham – Carse is centrally contracted. The matter is now being looked into by the Cricket Regulator – the sport’s disciplinary body – regarding a possible disrepute charge.
In the meantime, and in light of a string of drink-related incidents that have plagued the England men’s team over the past nine months, Carse has been dropped from the Test squad. While he was not expected to play unless there was an injury, Carse has been replaced by Hampshire’s Sonny Baker.
A statement from the England and Wales Cricket Board on Monday read: “Following a referral from the ECB, the Cricket Regulator have confirmed that they will investigate events on Saturday night in Derby.
“Brydon Carse will no longer be available for selection for the second Test while this investigation is ongoing and the full facts are obtained. Brydon will be replaced in the squad for this match by Sonny Baker.”
According to sources, the footage of Carse came after he had been denied re‑entry to the bar shortly before closing time. He had left the building following “an exchange of words” with another member of the public who spilled a drink on him. Durham, though not his direct employers, are not said to be pursuing the matter, nor are Potts or Stokes considered to have done anything wrong.
Carse had been due to travel to London on Monday, with England’s 16‑man squad reconvening after the three-day innings victory secured at Headingley last Friday. They go into two training days at Lord’s before the match starts on Thursday.
The issue presents Joe Root with an early off-field headache at the start of his second spell as Test captain, having made one of his first acts the removal of the team’s midnight curfew. Root has now brought forward by a day his pre-match press conference to meet the issue head on.
Questions about the team’s relationship with alcohol are inevitable, likewise those about his authority. The Carse situation came in the same week that Root backed his players to be “grown up” and “good role models and good human beings”.
The decision to drop Carse while an investigation takes place follows a precedent set this summer. Stokes and Gus Atkinson both missed the second Test against New Zealand at the Oval in June when the Cricket Regulator looked into a late‑night incident in a bar in Chelsea after victory in the series opener at Lord’s.
The midnight curfew was in place on that occasion, even if it was later argued the precise details of it had not been well communicated. Atkinson had been involved in a physical altercation with a Saracens rugby player – he was not the aggressor, as per the ECB – while Stokes was simply present at the same venue.
The ECB chose a different path on the eve of the Australia tour last winter, however, when Harry Brook was punched by a nightclub bouncer the night before the Yorkshireman captained a one-day international in Wellington, New Zealand. Brook was given a clandestine fine at the time, something which came to light only at the end of the Ashes.
In between Brook’s altercation and the story being broken by the Daily Telegraph came the team’s notorious mid-Ashes break in Noosa, when opener Ben Duckett was filmed inebriated outside a backpackers bar and the footage emerged on social media before the Boxing Day Test. Duckett was cleared to play.
Carse was backed heavily by Stokes during that 4-1 defeat, playing all five Tests and finishing as England’s leading wicket-taker, albeit conceding runs with it. A hand injury delayed his start to the English summer – and scuppered an intended spell at the Indian Premier League – but he had returned to fitness during the Hundred.
While England were intending to stick with Atkinson, Jofra Archer, Ollie Robinson and Josh Tongue this week as they target a first Test series win in 18 months, Carse was deemed first reserve. The retirement of Stokes in June and the new four‑pronged pace strategy should, in theory, mean opportunities down the line, unless this latest late‑night incident has affected his place in the pecking order.
