LONDON:
England pace bowler Brydon Carse could return from exile in England’s Test series in South Africa after he was included in the Lions tour squad.
Carse has not been selected for any international match since he was handcuffed outside a Derby nightclub in August.
It led to the 31-year-old being dropped from the squad for the second Test of England’s 3-0 win at home to Pakistan.
England Test captain Joe Root admitted the incident left him “hacked off”, while white-ball skipper Harry Brook acknowledged “time away” was required for South Africa-born Carse.
Although no charges were brought against Carse by Derbyshire Police following an investigation into an alleged assault in connection with the August incident, the cricket regulator deemed he had breached the England and Wales Cricket Board’s professional conduct regulations.
However, Carse will travel to South Africa later in November after being named in the Lions red-ball and white-ball squads for a tour — which will run alongside the three-match Test series for Root’s team against the Proteas.
With England seam bowler Josh Tongue set to miss the first Test against South Africa on December 17 due to the birth of his second child, national selector Marcus North on Monday confirmed “one or two players” from the Lions squad will be drafted into Stephen Fleming’s group and did not rule out Carse.
“Obviously in the past few months under investigation, it’s been a time where he has stood back and it’s been a time of reflection,” North said.
“It’s obviously been a challenging time for Brydon and it’s one we probably haven’t at times felt the demands of playing international cricket and what he was dealing with was necessarily right for Brydon or us.
“There has been several conversations between us, myself, (managing director) Rob Key and other people at the ECB with Brydon over this period and the conclusion is we feel he is in a place where we can introduce him back into an England environment.
“We feel the Lions is the right place for him to come back. Come that first Test, with Josh Tongue unavailable, that will leave us with 14 players and this is where I feel we’re using the Lions tour to our advantage.”
Uncapped Nottinghamshire left-arm spinner Liam Patterson-White has been called up for the first time at the expense of Shoaib Bashir.
Bashir had emerged as England’s number-one spinner, becoming the youngest England bowler to 50 Test wickets.
But injuries and poor form cost Bashir a place in last year’s tour to Australia, while he bowled in just one of England’s six home Tests this year.
“Our investment hasn’t changed. He is still a very young man, he is someone who we still have a very positive outlook for,” North said.
“We look at each Test series in isolation, and we feel Liam gives us the best balance and that spinner for this tour. We continue to be incredibly invested in Shoaib over the winter.”
The tour of South Africa will be England’s first Test series under Fleming, who has replaced Brendon McCullum as red-ball coach.
England’s 15-player squad:
Joe Root (capt), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Sonny Baker, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Sam Cook, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Emilio Gay, Dan Lawrence, Liam Patterson-White, Ollie Robinson, Jamie Smith; Josh Tongue.