Harry Brook was punched by a nightclub bouncer in New Zealand after being too drunk.
Brook, who is in Sri Lanka for England's one-day international series, was speaking for the first time since it was revealed that he had been penalized for the incident in Wellington in October, for which he was fined £30,000 and given a final warning for his off-field behavior.
"Obviously, I made a terrible mistake. Not only as a player, but also as a captain. It's very unprofessional, and I should be leading from the front. I've learned from my mistakes, I've reflected a lot on what's happened, and I know it wasn't the right thing to do. I want to say sorry to my teammates, to all the fans that travel far and wide to watch and spend a lot of money on coming out to watch us play cricket and supporting us, and to the ECB for putting them in a tricky situation, and it'll never happen again. I'm extremely sorry,” Brook said, as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
Brook, along with several England players, was out drinking before the third ODI in New Zealand, and the cricketer admitted that he returned to the nightclub on his own and was punched by a bouncer when attempting to get in.
"We went out for a couple of drinks beforehand, and then I took it upon myself to go out for a few more, and I was on my own there. I was trying to get into a club, and the bouncer just clocked me, unfortunately. Like I said, I shouldn't have been in that situation from the start ... I wasn't absolutely leathered; I'd had one too many drinks,” he added.
"It was definitely going through my mind. Never came into my mind. I left that decision to the hierarchy, and look, if they'd have sacked me from being captain, then I'd have been perfectly fine with it, as long as I was still playing cricket for England,” he added.
"Probably, yeah," he added when asked if he felt lucky to keep his job.
"I think I've got a little bit of work to do to try and regain the trust of the players. I said sorry to them yesterday. I felt like I needed to say sorry for my actions. It's not acceptable as a player, but as a captain, it's really not acceptable to do what I did in New Zealand. I'll be the first person to say that. I hold my hands up,” Brook stated.
Following the incident, which England kept quiet until after the Ashes, Brook sought assistance from Test captain Ben Stokes, who had been engaged in a high-profile nightclub fight in 2018.
"He obviously wasn't best pleased at what I'd done. But he tried to help me through it, and he knows exactly what it feels like to be in this situation. We had a few conversations, but we quickly moved on,” he said.
Brook stated that there is a drinking culture in English cricket after players were regularly seen drinking alcohol during England's tour of Australia.
"No, there's no drinking culture at all. As I said, everybody has the ability to say no. If you want a drink, if you don't want a drink, you're allowed to make that decision yourself. It wasn't just drinking [in Australia]. We weren't just going out and getting leathered every day. We were having a few drinks here and there. We were playing plenty of golf, going to nice cafes, and having coffees, but we had a few drinks here and there. I don't think that's a bad thing. It's just what human beings do,” he said.
England plays three ODIs against Sri Lanka, starting on Thursday in Colombo, before playing three T20Is ahead of next month's World Cup.
(ESPNCricinfo inputs)