English cricket and its drinking problem: Another nightclub incident brings shame on men's team

It was a telling remark, especially when revisited two months later.

“I probably won’t be real happy and smiley,” then-England cricket captain Ben Stokes told reporters after beating New Zealand in a hard-fought test match at Lord’s in June, “until I get up there and share a proper beer with the boys.”

After all, having a post-match drink with teammates and sometimes rivals in the dressing room is a cricketing tradition as old as time.

Is English cricket taking it to the extreme?

The off-field conduct and drinking habits of England's men's squad are back under scrutiny this week after another nightclub incident involving one of its players.

This time it was Brydon Carse, a 31-year-old fast bowler and one of the team’s success stories in recent years. The images of him — outside a club in the early hours of Sunday in handcuffs and surrounded by police officers — were hard to ignore, especially as the saga came days after a plea by newly appointed England captain Joe Root.

“Ultimately you’re grown adults,” said Root, speaking after England's leadership opted to scrap a midnight curfew that had been imposed on the men's team following a string of controversial late-night incidents.

“You know what it takes to play for England, you know what your responsibilities are off the field, and we need to make sure we don’t find ourselves with any little situations off the field.”

And so, with England's Cricket Regulator getting down to work investigating another off-the-field issue, it's back to square one.

Is it time for a cultural reset? In this age of sports science and ultra-professionalism, there are wider questions over whether cricketers should have a beer after a match. Or do players just need to be a bit smarter?

“Just have some kind of brain cells amongst you, seeing what’s just gone on,” former England captain Alastair Cook said on the Stick to Cricket podcast released Tuesday. “Surely someone says either don’t go to that place, or at 12 a.m. or 1 a.m. say, 'Let’s go and find ourselves somewhere quieter if we want to carry on.”

Here's a look at the late-night incidents that have brought shame on English cricket:

Before going to Australia for what proved a humiliating Ashes series, England traveled to New Zealand in October for a white-ball tour.

A day before the third and final one-day international, team captain Harry Brook was hit by a bouncer after being denied entry to a club in Wellington, with teammates Jacob Bethell and Josh Tongue also present on the night out.

Brook was fined about 30,000 pounds ($40,300) at the time and given a final warning for his future conduct — sanctions not made public until months later, after the Ashes series that England lost 4-1.

“I want to apologize for my actions,” Brook said. “I fully accept that my behavior was wrong and brought embarrassment to both myself and the England team.”

Between the second and third tests in the Ashes series against Australia in December, England visited the resort town of Noosa on the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane for some downtime in the midst of a long tour.

While there, footage was taken of England opening batter Ben Duckett looking disorientated as he talked to a group of people on a night out and saying he was unable to remember how to get back to his hotel.

“I am sorry for that incident, it was not professional and shouldn’t have happened,” Duckett later said. “There is no hiding away from it.”

Rob Key, England managing director of men’s cricket, said he would investigate the drinking habits of the England team.

Chastened by the Ashes hammering in the winter, England began its so-called “reset” with a home series against New Zealand in June.

After winning the first test, Stokes and fast bowler Gus Atkinson continued their post-match celebrations at Lord's by going on a night out in London, during which a member of England’s security staff was reportedly struck by a rugby player from English club Saracens.

The fallout was huge: Stokes and Atkinson were left out of the second test amid an investigation that ultimately found that no “regulatory breach” had occurred. Stokes then returned for the third match, only to announce his retirement from international cricket midway through it, saying the past few months had “taken its toll.” Brendon McCullum then was fired as test coach, while Key said the England and Wales Cricket Board was considering imposing an alcohol ban on the team.

Strictly speaking, Carse's night out wasn't while he was on England duty. It came after his club side, Durham, completed a big win over Derbyshire in the domestic County Championship on Saturday.

Carse was among the players selected in the England squad for the first test against Pakistan last week, but wasn't picked to play in the match and was released to feature for Durham.

Ahead of his ill-fated night out, Carse had been retained in England's squad for the second test starting Thursday. He was dropped on Monday because an investigation was ongoing into the incident, which saw Carse held in handcuffs by police after, according to Britain's Press Association, being briefly arrested.

England bowler Matthew Potts was with Carse on the night out, while footage that circulated on social media showed Stokes watching on as Carse was in handcuffs.

See AP’s full cricket coverage here

FILE - England's Ben Duckett leaves the pitch after losing his wicket during the first day of the test match between England and New Zealand at Lord's cricket ground in London, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)

FILE - England's captain Harry Brook,plays a shot during the second T20 cricket match between England and India in Manchester, England, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson, File)

FILE - England's captain Ben Stokes walks onto the field before the start of play on the fourth day of the Test match between England and New Zealand at Lord's cricket ground in London, Sunday, June 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)

FILE - England's Joe Root leaves the pitch after losing his wicket during the second day of the test match between England and New Zealand at Lord's cricket ground in London, Friday, June 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)

FILE - England's Brydon Carse appeals unsuccessfully for the wicket of Australia's Travis Head during play on the last day of the fifth and final Ashes cricket test between England and Australia in Sydney, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Baker, File)

ISTANBUL (AP) — The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday criticized Turkey's courts over the imprisonment of prominent philanthropist Osman Kavala, saying it highlighted a “systemic problem” that was “marked by the detention and prosecution of political opponents, human-rights defenders and journalists.”

Kavala, 68, the founder of a nonprofit organization promoting peace and dialogue, was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2022 on charges linked to 2013 protests and a coup attempt in 2016.

Human rights advocates and opposition groups say President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ’s government has weaponized the judiciary to target critics and rivals after more than two decades in power.

Reiterating a call for Kavala’s release it first made in 2019, the European court said his conviction should be regarded as “as null and void.” In a statement, the court said Turkey had violated several of Kavala’s fundamental rights.

The violations “also revealed structural shortcomings which affected the guarantees of independence and impartiality of the judiciary, and which were likely to facilitate the exerting of direct or indirect influence by the executive branch on certain judicial decisions, particularly in cases with a sensitive political dimension,” the France-based court added.

The Turkish government maintains that the justice system is impartial and independent. Erdogan has dismissed the court’s previous rulings, saying Turkey would not “recognize those who do not recognize our courts.”

Kavala was first detained in 2017 on accusations that he financed protests four years earlier that attempted to overthrow the government. He was acquitted in 2020, but was swiftly rearrested on charges linking him to Turkey’s 2016 coup attempt.

His acquittal was overturned and the case was merged with that relating to the coup attempt. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole in April 2022.

The case led to a diplomatic crisis in 2021 when Erdogan threatened to declare 10 foreign ambassadors, including the U.S., French and German representatives in Ankara, persona non grata after they called for Kavala's release.

FILE - Turksih philantropist Osman Kavala is photographed in Istanbul on April 29, 2015. (AP Photo/File)