Brook draws a line under Wellington after 'horrendous' month in spotlight

As the scrutiny about his actions on the night of October 31 in Wellington continues, England white-ball captain Harry Brook has admitted it has "not been a very nice time", and at times, "pretty horrendous".

Brook said that the incident, first reported by the Telegraph on the last day of the Ashes in January, has taught him that as a captain, he cannot take responsibility "lightly" and that he has to be switched on all the time.

"It has been pretty horrendous, to be honest, but that is part of it," Brook said in Mumbai on Saturday, a day before England play their T20 World Cup opener against Nepal at Wankhede Stadium. "It has just been tough. It's not been a very nice time of my life, to be honest. It has just not been easy."

Brook, who will turn 27 later this month, has already apologised publicly on three separate occasions for the Wellington incident, for which he was fined the maximum £30,000 by ECB as part of a disciplinary process and placed on a final warning. The matter has also been referred to the Cricket Regulator.

Brook said that he would reflect on what he had learned from the incident after the World Cup.

"I can't go through all the things that I've learned and be here for hours, but I've got a good time to reflect after this World Cup on this winter and probably write a few things down," he said. "But I have definitely learned that there's a hell of a lot more responsibility on your shoulders when you're a captain and you're a leader, and you can't take that responsibility lightly and you've got to be on virtually all the time."

Immediately after England whitewashed Sri Lanka 3-0 in the T20I series, England head coach Brendon McCullum said it was "annoying" to witness Brook being put on a media trial after he had accepted his mistake and fronted the dressing room.

Brook agreed it wasn't an "ideal" situation to have the focus on him, instead of on the cricket: "I'd rather it not happen. But it's happened now. We got to just move forward and hopefully things can blow over, and like I said, hopefully things are brighter on the other side.

"All I do is hit a ball with a bat, and that's what I want to carry on doing for the rest of [my career] - 15, 20 years or whatever - and that's all it should be... Thankfully, I'm still pretty good at that.

"It's been tough off the field, but that's part of it. And I obviously made a massive mistake and I've got to try and put that behind myself now and focus on what's more important."

While Brook had a forgettable Ashes, he has played a central role in England arriving confident to the World Cup after their back-to-back series wins in Sri Lanka where they first bounced back from a 1-0 deficit to win the ODI series 2-1, followed by 3-0 margin in the T20Is.

Brook, who was the second leading run-maker in the ODIs, including a match-winning century in the third match, said despite all that has happened since being "clocked" by a bouncer in Wellington, he is still "thankfully fairly good at hitting a ball".

Expanding on how he has not let the controversy derail his cricket, Brook said: "Well, it's weird. As a professional sportsman, when you get out to the wicket and you're a batter, everything just seems to float away and you don't even know what's going on. All you're focusing on is that cricket ball.

"Even when the crowds are massive, sometimes you don't even realise that there's any noise when you're batting. So luckily, I go into that bubble and then I managed to bat fairly well."

England named their team to face Nepal on the eve of the match, with Phil Salt recovering from a back spasm to take his place at the top of the order alongside Jos Buttler. Tom Banton is preferred to Ben Duckett at No. 4, while left-arm seamer Luke Wood is picked ahead of Jamie Overton.

England XI vs Nepal: 1 Phil Salt, 2 Jos Buttler (wk), 3 Jacob Bethell, 4 Tom Banton, 5 Harry Brook (capt), 6 Sam Curran, 7 Will Jacks, 8 Liam Dawson, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Luke Wood.