Joe Root 'Really Hacked Off' as Brydon Carse Dropped for Lord’s Test

Images posted on social media on Sunday showed Carse, 31, in handcuffs outside a bar in Derby on Saturday night. He was briefly arrested and subsequently de-arrested. The England and Wales Cricket Board has referred the matter to the Cricket Regulator, and Sonny Baker takes his place for Thursday’s Test.

Why Brydon Carse was not on England duty

Carse had been released to play for Durham at the time, but he is centrally contracted. Root, who held a “strong” conversation with the squad earlier that day, said his first thought was for the bowler.

If I’m being brutally honest, I’m really hacked off, I’m really disappointed. After last week’s performance, we’re sat here and we’re talking about something that is not related to it at all.

Joe Root, England captain

“I’ve spoken to Brydon, and when I first found out my main concern was him as a person,” Root said. “He’s very upset, very apologetic and understands his actions.” The deeper frustration is the pattern: “We keep making stupid mistakes away from the game and it’s detracting from what we’re doing on the field.”

He has grounds for it. White-ball captain Harry Brook was punched by a bouncer outside a Wellington nightclub in October. Ben Duckett was filmed apparently drunk in Noosa on the Ashes tour. In June, former Test captain Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson broke a team curfew. Off-field cricket stories travel furthest, as the village cricket cheating scandal showed this summer.

Baker, uncapped in Tests, now gets his chance at Lord’s on Thursday, with the Cricket Regulator’s process running alongside the series.