NEW DELHI: Harry Brook considers himself fortunate to remain England's white-ball captain despite a "terrible mistake" that saw him clash with a nightclub bouncer during the New Zealand tour, which preceded his team's heavy defeat in the Ashes series.

The incident occurred on October 31 in Wellington, the day before the third and final ODI against New Zealand, when Brook was reportedly struck by a bouncer after being denied entry to a club.

At the time, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) fined him around £30,000 ($40,300) and issued a final warning regarding his future conduct. Despite the episode, Brook retained his white-ball captaincy and continued as vice-captain in Tests, even as England suffered a 4-1 Ashes series loss to Australia.

"I made a terrible mistake, not only as a player, but as a captain," Brook said on Wednesday on the eve of the first match in England's six-game white-ball tour of Sri Lanka. "It's very unprofessional and I should be leading from the front and showing the players how it should be as a professional cricketer and a captain and I put myself in a bad situation.

"I want to say sorry to my teammates, to all the fans that travel far and wide and spend a lot of money to watch us play cricket. 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."

Brook said he would have understood if he'd lost the captaincy after informing the ECB about what had happened on the night out.

"(Resigning) never came into my mind," he said. "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.

On being lucky to still have the captaincy, Brook added: "Probably slightly. Even if I had been sacked, I'd have held my hands up and said, Look, I've made the mistake.'"

England are in Sri Lanka to play three ODIs - starting Thursday - and three T20s in preparation for the T20 World Cup that begins on February 7. The tournament takes place in India and Sri Lanka.

"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," Brook said.

(With AP Inputs)