A night-time bar incident in Wellington, New Zealand, appears to be the real deal for the England cricket team ahead of the 2026 ICC T20 World Cup. The controversial off-field incident occurred last year when the England cricket team toured New Zealand. The nightclub incident exposed the drinking habits of the England cricket team, including their star cricketers Harry Brooke and Ben Stokes.

Months after the incident, the Three Lions are still dealing with the incident. Will the incident affect their performance in the 2026 T20 World Cup? Can England white-ball captain Harry Brooke overcome his recent setbacks? Former England all-rounder Moeen Ali spoke about these issues.

Moeen Ali not broken by England cricketer’s love of alcohol

Moeen Ali believes England has some cricketers who are capable of overcoming situations like the New Zealand nightclub incident. The former cricketer said Ben Stokes and Harry Brooke are the kind of players who know how to handle such situations. Ali said Brooke may have learned his lesson and will lead the team to live up to expectations in the 2026 T20 World Cup.

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“100 per cent. You know, there are some people in cricket, there are some players, who say it’s weird but need to go through this. Stokes (Ben Stokes) is one of them, kind of, just one thing. And (Harry) Brooke is another one. It doesn’t affect them,” Moeen Ali said on ESPNCricinfo.

The 38-year-old further claimed that the controversy only intensified as England lost the match. He believes that if the team can win, there won’t be as much debate about the drinking culture.

“I know there’s a lot of talk about the drinking culture, but people are only bringing it up because we lost. It’s not as bad as people think a lot of times. If we won, no one would say anything,” Ali said.

Ali has high hopes for England cricket team

Moeen Ali believes England cricket team head coach Brooke and Brendan McCullum can lead the team to the 2026 T20 World Cup final, which will be played between India and Sri Lanka on February 7.

Ali feels England’s batting line-up looks very good on paper as they have several prolific batsmen. Phil Salt, Jos Buttler and Harry Brooke are potential batsmen who could wreak havoc in the subcontinent’s situation. Ali would like to see Brooke play a more top-order role rather than in the middle order as the No. 3 batsman.

The Three Lions are in a less competitive group

“From the batting order, it didn’t feel right but we bowled well. I thought Besser did well at number three but I would put our three best players up front and they are Salter, Jos and Brooke. Brooke is already one of the best players in the world. Don’t put any pressure on him but he can easily dominate international cricket for the next 10 years,” Ali explained.

England will start their tournament on February 8. Their first match was against Nepal. Group C is with Nepal, Italy, Scotland and the West Indies.

Read more: Moeen Ali begins lobbying to snatch Brendan McCullum’s England manager job