Troubled spinner Monty Panesar “let the England shirt down” with the unsavoury incident that sparked his exit from Sussex, captain Alistair Cook said, but insisted the bowler could revive his Test career.
Panesar, 31, was fined by police for urinating in public after he was ejected from a Brighton nightclub on August 5 and on Monday saw Sussex announce he’d played his last game for the south coast club.
Panesar was not included in England’s squad for the fifth and final Ashes Test at The Oval despite the south London ground’s reputation for taking turn, with uncapped left-armer Simon Kerrigan called up instead as the second spinner behind off-break bowler Graeme Swann.
“First and foremost, certainly what’s happened over the last couple of weeks has been disappointing,” Cook said at The Oval on Tuesday.
“I’ve spoken to him — he actually rang me — which shows he knows he’s done wrong and let the England shirt down a bit.
“But he recognises he needs a bit of a change in his life which I think is always the first step,” added opening batsman Cook.