Fit-again Brydon Carse hopes his perseverance will pay dividends: “I was almost ticking off each week as it came by"

JAMES COYNE: Durham’s exciting quick has come through two injury-plagued seasons and is testing himself with England Lions in Australia

• England Lions squad
• Cox replaces injured Moores

Contrary to what you might have read, Brydon Carse isn’t a Kolpak and never has been. The simplest proof of that is his inclusion in the England Lions squad to tour Australia over the next few weeks.

Like an increasing number of South African-born players in county cricket, Carse has a UK passport and is very much qualified to play for England. He qualified earlier than he would have done after the ECB cut the residential qualification period from seven years to three for British passport holders – some believe in order to fast-track Jofra Archer into the World Cup and Ashes last summer.

“I always have a bit of a chuckle when I see me being called a Kolpak on social media or whatever,” 24-year-old Carse tells The Cricketer.

“My dad’s got a British passport, so I was doing my days – 210-odd days a year or whatever it is.

“There was a bit of a loophole where I didn’t have to do my days one year and could have got the passport when I’d just come over. So effectively since February last year, I’ve been English-qualified.”

Things have moved mighty quick for Carse. For the first two seasons, after he was handed a development contract by Durham in 2016, he was plagued by a stress fracture and knee injuries and entered 2019 with his confidence in need of a pick-up.

His first experience of List A cricket came less than 12 months ago in the Royal London One-Day Cup, but the England selectors have seen enough in that and his Vitality Blast outings to pick him for the five one-day matches in Australia, which are now underway in Queensland.

“Last year was a big confidence-booster just getting through the season after the previous two years,” he says. “I was just happy to play in all three formats and to contribute for Durham all the way was a big success.

“Working closely last season with the S&C [strength and conditioning coach] and the physio, my overs and cricket workload picked up quite a bit. The first couple of weeks of the season I was almost ticking off each week as it came by, that’s how much confidence I probably needed.

The slingy quick England have been looking for?

“But as it got going and got more overs into my legs things started to fall into place. I do think I need to bowl overs out there. There’s no better feeling than getting match overs under your belt compared to training in the nets.

“Obviously there were going to be difficult chats with the coach over whether to play this game or rest for that game. But it all worked out quite well.”

It has been a tough few years in the north-east, with Durham’s enforced relegation from the Championship on financial grounds leading to an exodus of their established senior players. Durham chief executive Tim Bostock was palpably relieved when Carse signed a three-year contract extension, despite interest from rival counties.

“Yes, there could have been an opportunity to move away from Durham,” says Carse. “But two years of injury and a handful of games... I just thought if I can get fit there’s no better place to do it than at Durham at the minute. There was a lot of support at Durham that I’ve grown close to.”

Naturally, after his injuries, his bond is especially strong with that S&C coach, Sam Clark, who has helped him develop matchday routines to prepare for bowling lots of overs.

The incentive to move to a top-flight county is obvious, not least for the opportunity to bowl more regularly on flatter pitches which more resemble overseas international cricket. Fairly or unfairly, Chester-le-Street crops up regularly when batsmen speak of the trauma of 10.30am starts on damp days against the Dukes ball.

Carse, a quick bowler rather than a swing bowler, admits he has had to fight at times against falling into the modus operandi of a Graham Onions or Chris Rushworth.

And he has shown on visits elsewhere that he can cut it on flatter wickets – not least when he bowled the otherwise freewheeling Kumar Sangakkara off the inside edge at The Oval in 2016 for just his fourth first-class wicket.

“I think that’s one of the biggest things – the wickets around the country don’t have some of the pace that Test grounds do. And sometimes I’ve probably fallen into the trap of going away from my strength – which is hitting the wicket hard and making it uncomfortable for batters – and sometimes trying to be a pitch-up swing bowler. That isn’t my game.

^{Brydon Carse is part of a young England team looking to pique the interest of the selectors in Australia}

“With the help of coaches and other senior bowlers we’ve tried to rectify that. If I rock up to a ground and it’s a hard bouncy wicket I’m licking my lips. No matter where I’m playing I’d like to think I can create an x-factor.”

Carse has only been bowling fast for a handful of years, which may explain his injury problems. When he first came over from the Eastern Cape to north-east England in 2014, as Burnmoor CC’s overseas professional, he was a top-order batsman who bowled a few medium-pacers.

“To be honest when I came over at 18 I hadn’t done a lot of bowling. I only shot up to six-foot when I was 20. It was only later that I picked up a bit of pace.

“Potentially that’s why I suffered with injuries in my first few years. My bowling workload has been nowhere near where you want a first-class bowler to be. That’s where work in the gym has helped.”

But fast bowling was in his genes and in the family conversation. His father, Jim Carse, was a quick bowler for Rhodesia and Eastern Province in the late 1970s and early 1980s and had an overseas stint at Northamptonshire under Geoff Cook until an untimely rib injury in 1983.

Cook, the long-serving director of cricket at Durham, needed little invitation to head down to Burnmoor to check up on Carse junior – and soon brought him into the Durham system. 

Carse arrived in the Durham squad as the formidable side of the late-2000s was breaking up, and he witnessed the transition to a younger side that needed to find their feet before contemplating a serious tilt at promotion.

“Obviously when I broke into the side I had the likes of Graham Onions, Scott Borthwick, Mark Stoneman and Keaton Jennings around. They were some serious cricketers – some at their peak, some towards the end. It was, as a young lad, at times overawing, but I learned a lot off them.

“Graham Onions was someone who helped me a lot about bowling. It was upsetting to see him go.

^{Brydon Carse will be seeking to refine his skills during his fifth season at Durham}

“The last couple of seasons there’s been a lot of change on the field and behind the scenes, a new director of cricket [Marcus North] and head coach [James Franklin]. With the new additions to our squad I’d like to think we can challenge for promotion and have some exciting young players who offer a lot of skills.”

Carse still has his heart set on being the strike bowler in any team – and that is a vacancy England have sometimes struggled to fill when turning up overseas and being thrown the Kookaburra ball.

“When I first played for Durham, Graham Onions and Chris Rushworth would open the bowling. I’d come on more as first or second change and be asked to make a bit more of an impact.

“At around the halfway mark of last season one of our seamers went down and I did open the bowling with Chris. It was something new to me – I hadn’t done before. I don’t mind opening the bowling.

“The way I was used by captain Cameron Bancroft last year, it was more in shorter spells – four, five overs – whether bowling aggressive or setting funky fields. That was the role I was used in and I enjoyed it.

“I think over the first couple of months, captaincy was new to Cameron as well. A couple of his tactics were slightly different from what we were used to with Paul Collingwood. So he took time to adjust, but once we played more and more we fed off each other. We knew what he was looking for and what direction he wanted me to go in.

“I’d always like to bring that x-factor to any side – whether white-ball or red-ball. Then again I’d also like to think that I’m getting into my fifth or sixth spell I’d hope my body and fitness would allow me to bowl longer spells.”

And Australia, with its harsh light and hard ground, will be a fascinating test of where he is right now.

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