James Faulkner regrets his drunk driving incident
James Faulkner revealed that he regrets his decision to drink and drive in Manchester back in July, reported ESPNcricinfo. The all-rounder went on to say that he would regret the incident, that cost his place in the Australian squad for the recent limited overs series against England, “for the rest of my life.”
Faulkner was banned for four games by Australia while also picking up a £10,000 fine as well as being banned from driving for two years in the UK after he was found well over the legal alcohol limit after a night out with Tim Paine. Despite his excuse that he had got behind the wheels as it was raining heavily, the District Judge Mark Hadfield described the incident as "foolhardy in the extreme", and Faulkner said he would regret his decision for the rest of his life and career.
"It is always going to rock you, anything like that," Faulkner told reporters this week. "It is always a lot bigger than you initially think. It was an error of judgment and something I definitely regret and I'll regret it at the end of my career. I'll regret it for the rest of my life."
Faulkner believes he and Marsh can play together in the same team
His place in the side was given to Mitchell Marsh who grabbed the opportunity with both hands and was the Player of the Series as Australia beat England 3-2 in the recently concluded ODI series. Faulkner, who was Player of the Match in the 2105 World Cup final in March, however, believes he will be able to fit into the same side as Marsh.
"It is always spoken about a lot, but I think we're two different players," he said. "I'd like to think we can both play in the same one-day team. I know we didn't throughout the World Cup, but I'd like to think we could do that and the same with T20 cricket and Test cricket as well.”
Faulkner also went on to say that Marsh and he were trying to up their respective game and will always try to help each other out and that there was no sense of competition between them.
"At the end of the day it is in both Mitch and myself's control and that's scoring runs and taking wickets for our states or our country. I am good mates with him and get along with him really, really well so it is not like we are competing against each other at all, in fact, it is the exact opposite. We are trying to help each other improve our own games because we are both young players."
Faulkner has recently returned to Australia after helping his county side Lanchashire to the T20 title in England while he was also named the vice-captain for his home state team Melbourne Stars for the next edition of the Big Bash League.
Faulkner is recovering from a dislocated finger which he suffered in the T20 final and was not named in Australia’s Test squad for the upcoming tour against Bangladesh. The 25-year-old, however, expects to be fit for the state one-day competition, the Matador Cup, which starts in October.