Broad and Anderson weigh in on ‘tiresome’ off-field stories involving England players

Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson issued a strong rebuke to the England players involved in a string of recent off-field incidents, lamenting the flurry of negative stories around them as "extreme and tiresome".

Bowler Brydon Carse was the latest to come under scrutiny for an incident at a nightclub in Derby in the early hours of Sunday morning, when he was handcuffed and arrested by police before being de-arrested.

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Derbyshire police are investigating "allegations of assault" following the incident, which took place following Durham's County Championship victory over Derbyshire. Carse was dropped from the England squad for the second Test against Pakistan and is under investigation by the cricket regulator, but was named in the Durham side for their County Championship clash with Gloucestershire.

New England captain Joe Root said he was "really hacked off" after the fourth incident involving England players and alcohol in the last 10 months, adding, "It's not the isolated incident itself, it's the fact we continuously keep making stupid mistakes away from the game and it's detracting from what we are doing on the field."

Root had abolished a curfew for the squad only a couple of weeks earlier, urging his players to "be adults". He said: "[We need to] create a good, strong culture where you know when the right time is to celebrate and enjoy a win or to have a sensible beer, but remember – you've got to play for England."

Speaking at Lord's to unveil a painting of him and Anderson, Broad said: "Eight of the 30 centrally contracted players have now been reprimanded or involved and that is quite extreme and actually quite tiresome.

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"Joe Root spoke beautifully on this and is a brilliant example of how to do it. If you won't listen to him and follow him, then this is not for you. South Africa away and Australia at home [in 2027] – if you can't commit every bit of your mind and body to wanting to perform on this field, then I don't understand."

Anderson, who was among several players fined for an incident at a nightclub during the 2007 World Cup, said: "It was a massive wake-up call. You can make a mistake when you're young, but you have to learn from it and grow up fast. So it's just mind-numbing that people can still be putting themselves in these positions when there is so much attention around it.

"When we were successful, we had players who did that sort of policing. Someone would say: 'Just come away, you don't need another drink, you don't need to go to a nightclub,' and if someone wasn't training properly someone would say to them: 'You tossed off that net session, you didn't practise properly.' This is a young team and they'll get there."

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