Derbyshire Police have confirmed they are investigating allegations of assault after the incident in Derby city centre that saw England fast bowler Brydon Carse handcuffed outside a late bar on Saturday night.
“We are investigating allegations of assault in Derby city centre,” a force spokesperson said. “No arrests have yet been made and the investigation is ongoing.”
Carse was initially arrested on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly before being de-arrested after agreeing to leave the area. There is no clarity over what part, if any, the Durham seamer played in the alleged assault, and no one has been arrested in connection with it. He was removed from England’s squad for the second Test against Pakistan, which began at Lord’s on Thursday morning, after the Cricket Regulator opened its own investigation on 24 August.
Handcuffed hours after a 338-run win
The footage that circulated online was filmed on the evening of Saturday 22 August, hours after Durham had completed a 338-run thrashing of Derbyshire at the Incora County Ground in Division Two of the County Championship. Ben Stokes took 5-17 as the hosts collapsed to 84 all out, having earlier made 66 not out; Matthew Potts had taken 5-46 in the first innings; Ben McKinney’s 140 off 162 balls set the game up. Carse himself bowled Nick Potts as the innings was wrapped up.
Stokes and Potts, both centrally contracted, appear in the footage captured afterwards. There is no suggestion that either was involved in anything untoward. The England and Wales Cricket Board has declined to comment while both investigations run.
Sonny Baker, the Hampshire quick, was called up as Carse’s replacement for Lord’s. Carse had been part of the attack that dismantled Pakistan at Headingley in the series opener, an innings-and-103-run win completed inside three days, with Ollie Robinson taking the match award and Josh Tongue claiming 5-46. England’s cricket has not been the problem.
The tenth month of the same story
That is precisely what has left the England captain so exasperated. Joe Root’s response was unusually blunt for a player who has spent 15 years choosing his words carefully.
“If I’m being brutally honest, I’m really hacked off,” Root said. “I’m really disappointed that after last week’s performance we are sat here and we’re talking about something not related to it at all.” He added: “It’s not the isolated incident itself, it’s the fact that we continually keep making stupid mistakes away from the game and it’s detracting from what we’re doing on the field.”
The list Root is referring to has grown steadily over the past 10 months:
- Harry Brook’s altercation with a bouncer in Wellington
- Ben Duckett appearing intoxicated in public during the Ashes tour
- Stokes and Gus Atkinson stood down from the second Test against New Zealand at The Oval in June after breaking curfew at a London nightclub
- Carse, now, in Derby
The Stokes and Atkinson episode prompted the ECB to issue formal behaviour guidelines in July, signed off by managing director Rob Key: a midnight curfew, no appearing drunk in public, and a requirement to inform management when out of the team hotel after 10pm. Root scrapped the curfew as one of his first acts on returning to the Test captaincy, telling players to “be adults” and arguing that curfews “do not work”. The ECB and the new leadership group agreed a rules-based approach was no longer the appropriate mechanism. Six weeks later, that judgement is being examined in public.
Two investigations, and no timetable
The distinction matters. The police inquiry and the Cricket Regulator’s investigation are separate processes with separate standards of proof, and the regulator has historically waited on criminal matters before concluding its own. Neither has a published timetable, which means Carse’s availability for the third Test at Edgbaston, starting on 9 September, is unresolved rather than ruled out.
Carse is not unfamiliar with the regulator. In 2024 he was banned for 16 months, 13 of them suspended for two years, after admitting 303 bets on cricket matches between 2017 and 2019 — none on games he played in. He served three months, from 28 May to 28 August that year, and made his Test debut in Pakistan that October.
Root has framed the response as a debt rather than a discipline problem. “We’re going to have to earn a lot of trust back,” he said, describing a “very robust discussion” within the squad before Lord’s. England’s dressing room has been given the autonomy it asked for. The next few weeks will establish whether that was leadership or a gamble.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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