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Preparations on the field could not be going better for Harry Brook as he approaches his first world tournament as England’s white-ball captain. Off the pitch, though, Brook’s predicament is so serious that not even winning the T20 World Cup might be enough to save him from the sack.
The emergence last week of a new twist to the tale of Brook and his contretemps with a nightclub doorman — that he lied to management about the presence of team-mates on that sorry November night in Wellington — makes his position close to untenable.
Equally, the future of coach Brendon McCullum, already in grave danger after England’s latest Ashes debacle, has been further jeopardised by allegations of a cover-up over his players’ behaviour the night before a one-day international (ODI) against New Zealand.
It is a sorry backdrop to a World Cup that England have genuine hopes of winning. They begin the tournament against Nepal in Mumbai on Sunday.
Sam Curran and Tom Banton clap hands after seeing England to victory against Sri Lanka on Sunday (Ishara S Kodikara/AFP via Getty Images)
While their build-up to the Ashes, where they lost 4-1 to Australia, was limited and haphazard, England have been attuning for this tournament seamlessly with ODI and T20 wins in Sri Lanka. At the centre of that has been their gifted novice captain, who has put his own Ashes disappointments behind him spectacularly to lead from the front.
Brook was sensational in England’s series-clinching third ODI victory in Colombo last Tuesday, making an unbeaten 136 off 66 balls. It was one of the best centuries of his already illustrious batting career.
EXPLOSIVE from Harry Brook 💥💥💥
He hit nine sixes on the way to 136 off 66 balls! 🔥
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/DBZNSvGKUR
— Cricket on TNT Sports (@cricketontnt) January 27, 2026
He was equally fluent on Sunday, smashing 36 off just 12 balls to lead England to another win in the second T20 international at Pallekele.
But it was the way Brook celebrated reaching that century in Colombo that betrayed his immaturity and, again, showed he is not responsible enough to cope with the wider demands of captaining his country at 26.
Those of us who are not devotees of the work of ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin had no idea what Brook was doing when he performed the WWE wrestler’s trademark ‘beer smash’ celebration in the company of the older and wiser Joe Root.
It soon became clear he was poking fun at the controversy that engulfed him at the end of the Ashes when it emerged he had been fined £30,000 ($41,000) and handed a final warning for being out late and being ‘clocked’ by a bouncer the night before a game.
But without wishing to be po-faced, it was not funny. Not when he was extremely fortunate to still be England’s white-ball captain for this World Cup, and not when he knew he had not told management the full story of his supposedly solitary night on the town.
It would have been a stupid celebration had Brook just been a batter, let alone England captain, and his lack of contrition and self-awareness was truly staggering.
Harry Brook celebrates reaching his century in Colombo (Ishara S Kodikara/ AFP via Getty Images)
It was inevitable that the full story would eventually come out. It duly did so with the revelation, first reported by The Telegraph, that the independent Cricket Regulator is investigating not only Brook’s behaviour but also Jacob Bethell and Josh Tongue, who were out late with their captain.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) quickly released a statement, with Brook admitting he had lied “to protect his team-mates”, but the damage had already been done. Any hopes Brook had of remaining white-ball captain, however well England perform at the World Cup, have surely been dashed.
What a mess this is. It has been badly handled, not just by Brook but also by those in authority who must have known the extent of the situation — not least because it is now clear that Bethell and Tongue were also fined after that night out in November.
That does not reflect well on Rob Key, the England men’s team managing director, who said “there wasn’t any formal action” when a social media clip emerged of Brook and Bethell out on that fateful night of November 1 in Wellington before the third ODI.
Perhaps it is understandable that England did not want to publicise details of Brook’s fine and final warning before the Ashes. It would only have fanned the flames awaiting them in Australia in the form of the voracious home media.
But it should have led them to be much more careful during their infamous break after the second Ashes Test. In Noosa, Brook was pictured out drinking along with several team-mates and a video showed Ben Duckett looking the worse for wear.
Then, once the disciplinary action against Brook at the end of the Ashes had emerged, the ECB’s decision-makers should have made sure they told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about what happened — not just Brook’s incomplete version.
England players, including Harry Brook (left with back to camera), are filmed with beers in Noosa by Australia’s Channel Seven News
The experienced sports media manager Tim Percival tackles crisis management in his excellent book On the Record & On the Ball, a look at how elite coaches handle the media, released last year.
In it, Percival, now media manager of the England men’s rugby team, says two common mistakes can turn a crisis into a full-blown disaster. And this is assuredly a crisis for Brook that has been turned into a full-blown disaster by England.
There is the ‘ostrich’ approach, burying your head in the sand when the media come calling. Alternatively, there is the ‘half-truths’ approach, when the media calls and you slowly, reluctantly, provide incomplete and even inaccurate information.
It is not the crime, argues Percival, but the cover-up that can prove fatal. He warns: “Don’t let the act of trying to hide the truth become a bigger story than the original issue itself.”
That is what England and the ECB have been in danger of doing ever since the incident emerged, especially since Bethell and Tongue’s involvement became clear.
Harry Brook is dismissed in Wellington on the day after his altercation with a nightclub bouncer (Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)
The frustrating thing here is that England have one of the best media managers in the business. Danny Reuben successfully pulls off the delicate balancing act of being highly respected by the players he guides and the media he serves.
It is simply inconceivable that Reuben would have been behind this cover-up. He is always straight, helpful and understanding of the media and, as Percival implores, always truthful.
So this has assuredly been turned into a full-blown disaster by those above him, including McCullum, who keeps everyone outside his small group of compliant coaches at a distance.
This could easily have been nipped in the bud had Brook confessed to what had happened before the third ODI in Wellington, rather than halfway through the game itself, and then immediately been suspended just for that game by England. The ‘crime’ would have been addressed and the punishment administered immediately. It would have been over.
As it was, in these days of social media when everyone has a camera, and when there are so many excellent cricket journalists — not least the Telegraph’s Nick Hoult and Will Macpherson, who broke the story — it was always going to come out eventually.
The timing of the revelations, after the Ashes debacle and after the Noosa ‘stag do’, can only add weight to the impression that there is indeed a drinking culture within McCullum’s England that is damaging the team’s and the sport’s reputation.
Cricket is intrinsically linked with alcohol in so many parts of the world. The sport’s relationship with drinking is complicated and nuanced.
As an observer who has spent the last 20 years following the England team around the world, I invariably have sympathy when players who have been away from home for weeks and months on end feel the need for a night out. It only becomes an issue, like this England team’s penchant for golf, if they are losing and never when they are winning.
But there is a time and a place, and becoming embroiled in a physical altercation with a nightclub bouncer the night before leading your country in an international is neither the right time nor the right place.
Joe Root and Ben Stokes watch Australia celebrate their Ashes success (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
Just as it was right, Ben Stokes faced punishment after his own late-night physical altercation at a nightclub, in his case in Bristol in 2017, while on international duty. Lying about it afterwards has definitely made it worse for Brook.
So, too, has England’s determination to go ahead and be so public about a break in a Queensland holiday spot in Noosa that appeared to be a bigger priority for McCullum in his Ashes planning than arranging practice at the WACA ahead of the first Test in Perth.
The Cricket Regulator was set up late in 2023 by the ECB as part of their response to the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket and is responsible for monitoring compliance with the game’s regulations.
The fate of Brook — and McCullum — is not completely in the regulator’s hands. Ultimately, ECB power-brokers Richard Thompson and Richard Gould decide their fates after this World Cup. But it can punish and advise on strong action.
Brook is a rare talent who looks destined to become one of England’s finest ever batters. But he should do so without the weight of captaincy on his shoulders. He has shown himself unworthy of the honour at this stage of his development.
Not as a player and tactician, but, most pertinently, as a person.