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The England Under-19s captain, Harry Brook, was dropped for the final game of their ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup campaign after falling foul of the team’s disciplinary rules. The incident took place 24 hours before the seventh-placed play-off with New Zealand in Queenstown, where England have played all of their matches and is understood to involve no other England players. The 18-year-old’s indiscretion is understood to be minor and not drink related.
Brook, who has played six times for Yorkshire’s senior side after making his first class debut in 2016, has had an impressive tournament, scoring 239 runs at an average of 119.5, notching two fifties and a hundred in the process. A promising run for England was halted by Australia and leg-spinner Lloyd Pope, who took eight for 35 to knock England out at the quarter-final stage. Vice-captain Will Jacks took charge in Brook’s absence, leading England to a 32-run win.
Speaking after the match, coach Jon Lewis said the following: “Harry missed the match because he broke a team rule, so we decided to leave him out and deal with it internally. We’ll let you know if anything happens after that.
“The team exists and the rules apply to everyone so the captain breaks the rule and he missed the game. One thing I would like to stress about this group of people is that they’ve been extremely well behaved here in New Zealand. They’re a really good group of people. We take a lot of pride in our duty of care for the Under-19s as a support staff and we do put rules in place. If rules are broken then disciplinary action sometimes needs to be taken.”
The duty of care involved with the Under-19 side (there are five 17-year-olds in the England squad) is such that all coaches, staff and players need to adhere to the stringent guidelines. As such, incidents that may seem trivial can have severe repercussions and are treated accordingly. Rigid measures are in place to ensure player welfare.
The ECB has four staff members on duty every day – two for mornings, two for evenings. Players must inform staff what they are doing in the evenings and their days off and must also sign out either in person or over WhatsApp before leaving the hotel. They also must stay together in groups when out and adhere to an 11pm curfew every day, along with strict rules on alcohol.
For those at school, college or university, there are two hours of study daily, overseen by a member of staff. Players are also banned from undertaking any dangerous activities such as bungee jumping – a popular pursuit in New Zealand.
It is uncertain, at this stage, if the ECB will make a further statement.
(GUARDIAN)
