Brydon Carse returns from injury

Brydon Carse returns from injury

After a promising start to his international career, Brydon Carse suffered an injury which ruled him out of the whole winter programme, he's now back playing again, how did he get on on his return...

Brydon Carse returned to competitive action after a five month lay-off today, taking a wicket with his very first ball for Durham 2nd XI against Surrey 2nds.

Swapping the drama of a breakthrough international experience in England’s emergency one day squad last summer for the rather more tranquil early season surroundings of suburban Guildford, his return will be of note to those in power at both Durham and England alike. An initial four over spell couldn’t have started better as his first ball found the edge of Surrey batter Nico Reiffer’s bat to be caught by wicketkeeper Tom Mackintosh.

Capable of bowling at speeds in excess of 90 mph, Carse showed no obvious signs of discomfort, though he was easing into his workload, his pace was still a cut above that of his colleagues. He regularly whistled the ball past the outside edge of the bat, leaving the batters groping for the ball again and again. One further early edge flew along the floor between the slip cordon, but his opening four overs otherwise proved difficult to score from. Notably he opted to remain fielding when given the option to come off the field of play, a sign he is comfortable with his body and one that will please his coaches. He also appeared untroubled fielding, and went about sprinting and throwing without issue gaining words of encouragement were directed to him throughout this and his bowling spells as teammates affectionately referred to him as ‘cheesy,’

Carse’s second spell, delivered after lunch but limited once again to four overs, yielded plenty of pace but no further wickets as Surrey aimed to recover from the ending of a solid partnership between Tom Lawes and Justin Broad. Five wickets down, and having been put into bat on a helpful pitch, Surrey’s batters occasionally struggled to protect their stumps from the moving ball. Towards the end of Carse’s second spell, promising Surrey wicketkeeper-bat Josh Blake was finally able to cover drive for a boundary to relieve the pressure, a shot which helped usher the fast bowler to return to fielding duties once more. Whilst a final post-tea spell of the same duration failed to induce further wickets for Carse, conceding 22 runs from twelve overs represented as encouraging a return as could be hoped for.

Indeed from small acorns mighty oaks grow, for Carse’s return to competitive action represents a small but not insubstantial moment in the season. For this most recent injury came at a vulnerable time for English quick bowlers, tearing the cartilage in his knee in a pre-Ashes warm up game for England Lions back in November. Considering the current availability of England’s other pre-eminent speedsters Mark Wood, Jofra Archer and Olly Stone, it was cruel luck for a player who would have harboured genuine aspirations for a promotion to the Test squad.

Selectors for club and country alike will hope that the period out of the game is little more than a short term pause in an otherwise rapid ascent for the 26 year old South African-born speedster. Having qualified to play for England in 2019, some impressive form that season saw him selected for the following Lions tour down under, during which his eight wickets helped England go unbeaten throughout. He was subsequently one of those called up to the full England ODI squad against Pakistan last summer after the originally selected players were forced to withdraw following positive COVID 19 tests. Following a contribution of six wickets at less than 23, including a five-for at Edgbaston, it was no surprise when he was picked up for a spell in the Australian BBL by the Perth Scorchers, attached to the Lions trip accompanying the full England touring party. His knee injury put paid to both however, and he has spent the winter rehabilitating and gradually building up to this return.

As much as a first ball wicket then, a trouble free first competitive day in the field will be of enormous encouragement to player, club and country alike.

NO COMMENTS

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.