ECB chair Richard Thompson ‘extremely disappointed’ at England cricket off-field incidents | Cricket News

ECB chair Richard Thompson told Sky Sports of his “enormous disappointment” at the string of off-field episodes to blight England of late, saying players must understand the “respect, responsibility and pride” of representing the national side.

Fast bowler Brydon Carse was dropped for the second Test against Pakistan at Lord’s as the Cricket Regulator examines an incident outside a Derby nightclub last weekend.

Derbyshire Police are also investigating “allegations of assault” following the episode which saw Carse, 31, handcuffed.

The Carse situation follows Harry Brook being punched by a bouncer in New Zealand last year, Ben Duckett videoed seemingly drunk in Noosa during The Ashes, and Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson breaking curfew to attend a London nightspot this summer.

New captain Joe Root, who has taken over from the retired Stokes, said he was “hacked off” by England continuing to make “stupid mistakes” when speaking to the media earlier this week.

‘Every player has to understand responsibility of playing for England’

Thompson said to Sky Sports Cricket’s Michael Atherton on Friday morning: “I don’t think anyone could have summed it up better than Joe [Root] did this week.

“When you play for your country, you are judged by a far higher standard. What comes with wearing the three lions comes with respect, responsibility and pride.

“Unless you live and breathe those three qualities, there’s a problem. I think every player, and Joe articulated this brilliantly, has to understand the responsibility that comes with playing for England.”

Speaking about the Carse story at Lord’s on Thursday, Sky Sports pundit and former England seamer Stuart Broad said: “Carse is in a very worrying situation because Root is now in charge. It’s a fresh page. Joe can say, ‘this is my team, this is what we are doing’.

“When you are getting reprimanded by the Cricket Regulator or the ECB, you don’t know who that is, but when Root says, ‘I expect this from you and if you don’t deliver that we have a problem’, then you are not crossing Root.

“That is the strong position Root is in after what he has said to the group – players will start to behave.

“I thought what Root said in the press conference was very strong and what an opportunity for him to say, ‘this is my team and we will do it my way’.”

Thompson: England wanted to be ‘measured’ after Ashes

Root will work alongside new Test coach Stephen Fleming moving forward with the latter succeeding fellow New Zealander Brendon McCullum in the role.

Fleming’s first assignment will be a three-match series in South Africa over the winter, with Marcus Trescothick in interim charge against Pakistan.

McCullum was axed following the 2-1 home defeat to New Zealand in June, having presided over seven defeats and just two wins in England’s previous nine Tests.

Asked why change did not come after the error-strewn 4-1 Ashes thrashing in Australia this winter, Thompson added: “We all wanted to be very considered.

“When you lose 4-1, the expectation is that heads will roll. That’s what’s always happened before. The reality is when you lose an Ashes, a number of people lose their jobs.

“You learn nothing from it. You never get the chance to learn what those lessons were, and you never get to understand what those lessons are and put them right.

“Within days of the Ashes finishing, we were also going into a Sri Lanka white-ball tour and an important T20 World Cup with the same coaching group and players.

“That’s the reality of modern cricket; being swift is hard when you are back-to-back with tournaments.

“The reality was we wanted to be measured. We felt that there were lessons that could and should have been learned.”