England Exclude Carse as Edgbaston Test Against Pakistan Approaches
England will go for the clean sweep against Pakistan at Edgbaston without Brydon Carse, as the Durham quick remains on the sidelines while a police investigation continues.
The 31-year-old seamer, briefly arrested after an incident outside a Derby nightclub on 22 August, was dropped for the second Test at Lord’s and has now been left out of the squad for the third and final match in Birmingham. Derbyshire Police say they are investigating allegations of assault; Carse has not been charged and remains under investigation.
England have kept faith with his replacement. Sonny Baker, the 23-year-old seamer who came into the squad at Lord’s, stays in a 15-man group that is otherwise largely intact.
One more name has gone, though. Surrey’s Matthew Fisher has been released, trimming the pace options but not the sense of control in an England camp eyeing a 3-0 series win over a Pakistan side in turmoil.
The final Test at Edgbaston starts on Wednesday, 9 September at 11:00 BST.
Seam-bowling juggling act
The real intrigue sits beneath the surface of that “unchanged” tag. England’s selectors and medical staff are staring at a heavy white-ball block immediately after this Test series: six limited-overs games against Sri Lanka, and three frontline quicks who straddle both formats.
Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson and Josh Tongue are all in the Test squad and all central to England’s white-ball plans. They may not all play at Edgbaston. Management could rotate them, using Baker, Essex seamer Sam Cook and Derbyshire spinner Shoaib Bashir to absorb some of the load.
Cook, 29, has just one Test cap, earned against Zimbabwe last summer, but has built a formidable reputation in county cricket as a metronomic seamer. Bashir, 22, is yet to appear in this series, England having gone with an all-pace attack so far. Edgbaston’s surface and overhead conditions will dictate whether that changes.
Baker’s own Test experience is fleeting: a single appearance in a much-changed side against New Zealand at The Oval in June. Still, his presence here underlines how quickly he has moved up the pecking order in a department that rarely lacks competition.
Carse in limbo
Carse’s situation remains awkwardly poised. He is available for Durham and played last week, taking 4-95 in a Championship win over Gloucestershire. On the field, he is still trusted enough to contribute to victories.
Off the field, the picture is different. He has not been selected in Durham’s XI for their current match against Northamptonshire, which began on Wednesday, and now finds himself overlooked again by England.
For now, his international ambitions are parked. England move on to Edgbaston without him, and without any public indication of when that might change.
Pakistan rip it up before Edgbaston
If England’s changes are measured, Pakistan’s are seismic.
Ahead of the Birmingham Test, Pakistan have dropped seven players, called up five uncapped names and dispensed with their head coach. It is the kind of sweeping reset usually reserved for the end of a disastrous tour, not the eve of a marquee Test at one of England’s most atmospheric grounds.
Sarfaraz Ahmed has been replaced by Pakistan white-ball coach Mike Hesson, who steps into the Test role at a moment of open upheaval. On the playing side, Muhammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Ali Usman and Khurram Shahzad – all involved in this series – are among those jettisoned.
It is a dramatic gamble from a side already chasing the series. England, with a settled core and a fast-bowling unit that can be shuffled rather than rebuilt, will walk out at Edgbaston with the chance to complete a clean sweep against opponents who have torn up their own script.
One camp is fine-tuning. The other is starting again.
