Carse joins pace party and repays England faith

Brydon Carse was standing in the Christchurch sunshine, clutching his player-of-the-match award.
Patiently waiting to give another interview, he let his guard down for a split second. Out of nowhere he was tackled to the ground by England team-mate Harry Brook.
It was the first mistake Carse had made for four days.
The 29-year-old has been England’s best bowler this winter. His 10-wicket haul in the defeat of New Zealand was the first by an England pace bowler away from home in 16 years. Carse already has 19 wickets in his three Tests, nine of them in two matches on unresponsive pitches in Pakistan.
The Durham man is England’s latest selection success, yet it was only a few months ago that Carse thought his Test dream was over.
Historical bets on cricket matches – 303 of them placed between 2017 and 2019 – resulted in a three-month ban from cricket in May. Fearing for his future, Carse sought out his county team-mate and England captain Ben Stokes, who knows what it’s like to be staring into uncertainty.
“I spoke to him a lot and spent a lot of time with him around that ban,” said Stokes. “When those things are coming from someone who knows what it’s like to go through certain stuff it means a bit more.”