Brydon Carse pictured in handcuffs outside Derby nightclub as ECB investigates Saturday incident
Brydon Carse was pictured in handcuffs outside a nightspot in Derby on Saturday night, with Durham team-mate Matthew Potts visible in the images and former England captain Ben Stokes appearing in the background. The incident has prompted an investigation by the England and Wales Cricket Board and the Cricket Regulator while Carse remains part of England’s Test squad as of Sunday evening.
England are dealing with the latest late-night misdemeanour amid a string of off-field incidents involving centrally contracted players since last October. The images of Carse follow separate episodes including Harry Brook being punched by a nightclub bouncer in Wellington (with Jacob Bethell and Josh Tongue present), Ben Duckett being filmed drunk in Noosa, and an incident in June when Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson were present as a member of England’s security staff was struck in a London nightclub, breaching a curfew. There are 30 men currently on England central contracts and, the article notes, more than a quarter of them have been caught up in bother in the past 10 months.
Carse was released from the first-Test squad to play for Durham away at Derbyshire and was scheduled to report to Lord's for the second Test on Monday; the match was scheduled to still be ongoing when he found himself in the hands of the police. It is understood he was not arrested and was not specifically on England duty at the time, with early suggestions he had been denied entry to a nightclub or had a drink poured over him. The ECB and the Cricket Regulator will work to establish what happened and England will take time to gather information before deciding on his involvement in the second Test.
The episode came days after new England Test captain Joe Root urged his players to be "really good role models, good human beings" and followed Root's removal of the midnight curfew—his first act as captain—when he told his squad to "be adults". As part of that change, guidelines advising players not to drink alcohol on the day before, during or after a game, or in public, have also been removed.
Two years ago Carse was banned for historical betting offences and rebuilt his career to become an England regular in all three formats; the article records that no bowler has more Test wickets for England than Carse's 58 since he made his debut in October 2024. The piece also states that "Brydon Carse has not played for England since the Ashes." Supporters and ECB figures are reported to feel anger and frustration at another high-profile error of judgement from a centrally contracted player.
Questions are raised in the article about the role of senior figures, noting that Stokes, despite being retired, remains an employee of the ECB via his central contract and asking whether he should have been conscious of Carse being in that situation. Three weeks ago, Stokes denied the England team has a drinking culture, but rather that the game itself has a problem; after the Stokes-Atkinson incident in June, director of cricket Rob Key denied that England have become a "national embarrassment".
The ECB only became aware of the Derby incident on Sunday afternoon and will decide whether Carse should be removed from the Test squad after gathering information. Carse is due to report to Lord's on Monday and, according to the article, is only a tweaked hamstring away from playing in a Test at Lord's on Thursday.
