Joe Root has described himself as "really hacked off" that his England team-mates "keep making stupid mistakes" off the field, following Brydon Carse's brief arrest outside a bar in Derby and subsequent removal from the squad for Thursday's second Test against Pakistan.
Carse was filmed in handcuffs while celebrating Durham's win over Derbyshire on Saturday night, and police confirmed on Monday that he had been briefly arrested on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly before he was subsequently de-arrested. The Cricket Regulator is investigating the incident, and Carse has been stood down from England's squad as a result.
Root, who resumed his role as England's Test captain earlier this month, said that he had spoken to an "upset and apologetic" Carse since the incident, and that he had led a "very robust discussion" with his players since their arrival in London on Monday afternoon.
"If I'm being brutally honest, I'm really hacked off," Root said, speaking at Lord's on Tuesday. "I'm really disappointed that after last week's performance, we sat here and we're talking about something nothing related to it at all.
"In terms of the incident itself, it's obviously with the Regulator. There's not a lot I can say on it. It's in their hands now. I've spoken to Brydon. When I first found out, my first concern was him as a person, as someone I've spent a lot of time with [and who has] been involved in this dressing-room.
"You obviously develop personal relationships with players, and I don't think I'm speaking out of turn by saying he's very upset, very apologetic, and understands his actions. I'm sure when he gets his chance, he will say that himself.
"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."
Carse is the third England player - after Gus Atkinson and Ben Stokes - to miss a Test match this summer pending an investigation into late-night drinking, and alcohol-related incidents have been a constant distraction over the past 12 months, including throughout England's 4-1 defeat in last winter's Ashes series.
Stokes subsequently retired from international cricket in June, shortly after he was handed a written warning but cleared of any involvement in violent conduct at a Chelsea nightclub. Root's first act as his successor was to remove England's midnight curfew and tell his players to behave like "grown adults", and he stood by that decision on Tuesday.
"I still don't believe that's the way to go," he said. "It's important we create something bigger than that. It's about having something long-lasting that we can be proud of, that we can pass on to the next generation of players for them to evolve and be proud of."
Root declined to answer questions about potential punishments for Carse - who was not on England duty at the time of the incident but is a centrally-contracted player - and deferred to the ongoing investigation.
But he said that his players had "a responsibility and an opportunity" to change their public perception, and suggested that this latest incident would prompt a cultural reset under incoming head coach Stephen Fleming.
"What I will say is that actually, we have an opportunity moving forward," Root said. "Clearly, we're not portraying ourselves how we want to, and I think we've got an opportunity to build a culture that's very strong, something that we can be proud of, that's player-driven.
"Of course, that's not going to happen overnight. We've already had conversations as a team about what is expected from this group of players, what it means to play for England, what it takes to play for England. But we want to create something that we can be proud of and people that follow us can be proud of.
"We want the supporters to look at us and not just revere what we do on the field, but off it as well. Over the next little while, as leader of this team with Stephen [Fleming], and with the group of players themselves, it's creating something that is just that."
He added: "We've had a very robust discussion about where we currently sit, and there's real clarity there… Now, we can concentrate on focusing on what is important this week on the field, and making sure we prepare properly and diligently for all the challenges that this surface and Pakistan are going to provide us over the next two Test matches."