Brydon Carse embraces cross-format role after England keep the faith

Brydon Carse has thanked the England management for keeping their faith in him, after he returned to the international game following a three-month gambling ban.

Earlier this year, Carse was given a 16-month suspension from cricket, with 13 of those suspended, after it was discovered that he had placed over 300 bets on matches between 2017 and 2019.

There was no indication nor accusation that Carse was involved in fixing, but the bets – which included Durham matches he was not playing in – were a significant breach of regulations.

At the start of the summer, Carse had been on the brink of becoming an England regular and was one of 15 players to be awarded a two-year central contract. That he has been immediately recalled to the set-up after his ban is over is a further sign of the belief that England have in the 29-year-old.

“They’ve been incredibly supportive over the last period of time,” Carse said. “It’s been brilliant [to be back playing]. The last three weeks have been very pleasing for me to be back playing. A couple of weeks ago I was back with Durham and now I’ve joined the England set-up and all I’ve had from everyone is full backing and full support. I’m just looking forward to playing as much cricket in an England shirt as possible going forward.

“Rob Key’s been very communicative with me and everyone around the support structure has given me everything that I’ve needed to, to get back playing.”

The current England regime are big fans of Carse. Despite his relatively modest domestic numbers, the management believe Carse has many of the attributes that are key to finding success at the international level. As a result, he recently received a maiden Test call-up for the tour of Pakistan, to go along with his presence in both white-ball squads.

“I’m making sure I bowl enough overs in training to keep my loads up,” Carse said of his preparations for the upcoming Test tour. “But the way the schedule is now, I’m fully focused on white-ball and the adjustments will be done in Pakistan when I land on October 2.

“The mantra that England are trying to play their Test cricket is probably shifting, and they’re trying to play a couple of bowlers that can bowl with extra pace. So if you’re asking what my role is going to be in Pakistan, it’s going be short, sharp bursts and to get the ball to reverse.”

Carse’s role has been the source of much debate during his short England career, with comparisons to his Durham predecessor and white-ball middle-overs specialist Liam Plunkett made regularly.

“The only time I hear about that role is in the media,” Carse said of the comparisons. “I’m not getting told that by the coaches or fellow team-mates. It’s not something I’ve really thought about.”

Carse, who made the first of his 16 ODI appearances back in 2021, is yet to take the new ball for England and has exclusively bowled as first change. But while the message to Carse of what is required from him has been consistent, the messenger hasn’t. Despite playing only 16 ODIs for England, he has played under five captains: Ben Stokes, Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley and Harry Brook.

“I’m not going to rule out bowling in the powerplay,” he said. “I’ve had a couple of good spells in the powerplay in these 50-over games so far. And if I can come back [later in the innings] and take wickets for the team – you know, [Saturday] I was probably a little bit expensive to what I would’ve liked – but ultimately I’m going to try and take wickets because that’s my role.”

At Headingley, Carse claimed the wicket of Travis Head before picking up Aaron Hardie and Mitchell Starc in consecutive deliveries to leave Australia at that stage 216 for 8. Despite the wickets, however, Carse was otherwise expensive, conceding 75 runs from his ten overs. It was a marked improvement, however, as his final four overs went for just 12 runs, his figures at one stage reading 6-0-63-1.

“I probably struggled with a little bit of rhythm in my first spell. But coming back and picking up those two crucial wickets to stem the flow of the game at the time. I just kept trucking in and ultimately I think it’s a day where I can take a few positives from the outcome, some good, some not so good.

“There’s no hiding the fact that a lot of the players in that group don’t play a lot of 50-over cricket and that’s just the structure around English cricket now with the Hundred.

“But I think there’s players in that group that have had very good T20 careers up to date and there’s some up-and-coming players where it’s just about adapting to the certain situations quicker. I think that’s probably what we haven’t done in these first two games, adapting to situations. But there’s three games now to really try and turn that around quickly.”