The night bar incident at Wellington in New Zealand appeared as a real deal for the England cricket team ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026. The controversial out-of-field incident took place last year when the England cricket team was on a tour to New Zealand. The nightclub incident revealed the drinking habits of the England cricket team, including their star cricketers like Harry Brook and Ben Stokes.
Months after the incident, the ‘Three Lions’ still have to deal with the chapter. Will the incident influence their T20 World Cup 2026 performance? Will Harry Brook, the captain of England’s white-ball team, be able to overcome all the setbacks they sustained in recent times? Former England all-rounder Moeen Ali opened up on these questions.
Moeen Ali is not devastated with England cricketers’ love for alcohol
Moeen Ali believes that England has some cricketers who have the ability to overcome situations like the nightclub incident in New Zealand. The ex-cricketer stated that Ben Stokes and Harry Brook are the kind of players who know how to deal with such situations. Ali said that Brook might have learned from the situation and will guide the team in the T20 World Cup 2026 to fulfil the expectations.
“100%. And you know, there are some people, there are some players in cricket, that are, weird to say this, but need to go, through that. And Stoksey (Ben Stokes) was one, kind of like, just kind of stuff. And (Harry) Brook is another one. And it doesn’t affect them”, Moeen Ali said on ESPNCricinfo.
The 38-year-old further claimed that the controversy was more buzzing because England lost the match. He thinks that if the team managed to win, then there would not be so much chattering around the drinking culture.
“I know there’s a lot of talk about a drinking culture, but people have only brought it up because we lost. It’s not as bad as people make out a lot of the time. If we’d won, nobody would have said anything,” Ali said.
Ali has high hopes for the England cricket team
Moeen Ali believes that Brook and Brandon McCullum, head coach of the England cricket team, can shut their critics down by guiding the team to the final of the 2026 T20 World Cup, starting on February 7 in India and Sri Lanka.
Ali opined that England’s batting line-up is looking really good on paper, as they have multiple prolific batters in the setup. Phil Salt, Jos Butler, and Harry Brook are the potential batters who can wreak havoc under subcontinental situations. Instead of deep down in the middle order, Ali wants to see Brook in a more top-order role, as the number 3 batter.
Three Lions in a less competitive group
“With the batting order, it doesn’t feel right, but we’ve played OK. I think Bethell is fine at three, but I would put our best three players up top, and they are Salt, Jos, and Brook. Brook already is one of the best players in the world. Not to put any pressure on him, but he could dominate international cricket for the next 10 years, easily,” Ali explained.
England will start their campaign on February 8. Their first match of the tournament is against Nepal. In Group C, along with Nepal, they are combined with Italy, Scotland, and the West Indies.
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