If you like a bet – and Brydon Carse may not anymore after the fate that befell him this summer – then you would say the hardy Durham seamer looks a lock for The Ashes.

Carse was slapped with a three-month ban during the 2024 home season for historical gambling offences, having placed 303 bets on various cricket matches between 2017 and 2019, none of which, it is important to add, involved fixtures he played in.

That absence from the game could have knocked him back but he used it to work on his fitness and for a little refresh. England are now reaping the rewards and New Zealand are suffering.

This time next year, when The Ashes will be in full swing, Australia may be worked over by the pacey Carse, as he appears to have the qualities to thrive in that part of the world.

Carse shows skill against New Zealand

Over the Tasman Sea in New Zealand, the 29-year-old quick has taken seven wickets in the first Test at Christchurch to leave England on the brink of a series-opening victory.

A quick glance at Carse and you could be forgiven for thinking he was all about brute force. He stands 6ft 3in tall and was regularly charged with banging the ball into the pitch in Pakistan in October on surfaces that did not really aid the pacers.

England should profit from his heart, durability, speed and bounce in Australia, on decks that can be hard and flat and where back-breaking spells are often needed, but Carse has no shortage of skill either, showing his ability to move the ball against New Zealand.

During his first-innings four-for, he had Tom Latham caught behind from a delivery that nipped away, rushed Daryl Mitchell with a short ball, removed Tim Southee with a rising delivery and then detonated tailender Will O’Rourke’s stumps with a pinpoint yorker.

In the Black Caps’ second knock, he had Devon Conway out on the pull before Rachin Ravindra fell hook, line and sinker for the short-ball ploy and flapped into the deep.

Carse showed his range once again close to stumps, though, with a nip-backer pinning Glenn Phillips lbw. Phillips reviewed but the decision remained with umpire’s call.

England’s call to pick Carse is looking a shrewd one, with the South Africa-born bowler building on his impressive debut series in Pakistan, when he took nine wickets across the first two Tests at an average of 24.33 before being rested for the third.

Carse’s batting could be key in Australia

Jofra Archer and Mark Wood’s names always come up when talk turns to the battery of fast bowlers England will hope to take to Australia. If they are fit, they will surely go.

Gus Atkinson is becoming a shoo-in after starting his Test career with 42 wickets in nine games at an average of 22.64, including a 12-wicket haul on debut against West Indies at Lord’s as the baton was proverbially passed on from the retiring James Anderson.

But we can now add Carse to that mix – not just for his bowling.

In England’s recent Ashes horror shows in Australia, a significant factor has been the ease with which the Baggy Greens have blown away the tourists’ tail. Yet, Australia may find that harder to do next time around with batting depth building for Ben Stokes’ side.

Not only do they have Atkinson, who hit a stonking Test century against Sri Lanka in August and then a rollicking 48 against New Zealand in Christchurch, but Carse, too.

The latter averages above 30 in first-class cricket with two centuries and five fifties, while, after being dropped on five by New Zealand at Hagley Oval, he went on to smoke an unbeaten 33 from 24 balls, mowing sixes over deep square, long-on and deep fine leg.

Carse coming in at nine or 10 against Australia could be a huge boost in England’s bid to win there for the first time since 2010/11. Wherever he bats, he looks increasingly certain to be on the tour.

England’s Test tour of New Zealand

• First Test: November 28-December 2 (Christchurch)
• Second Test: December 6-10 (Wellington)
• Third Test: December 14-18 (Hamilton)

England are closing in on victory over New Zealand in the first Test after Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse and Harry Brook starred on a dominant day three for the tourists in Christchurch.

The Black Caps are 155-6, leading by just four, with Woakes (3-39) bagging the key wicket of Kane Williamson (61) lbw and then nicking off Tom Blundell (0) next ball.

Woakes’ fellow seamer Carse claimed 3-22, taking his haul of wickets in the game to seven and leaving England well on course for a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Earlier, Brook (171) – dropped for a fifth time after four reprieves on day two – and Ben Stokes (80) – who registered his best Test score since the 2023 Ashes – plus dashing lower-order cameos from Gus Atkinson (48 off 36) and Carse (33no off 24) pumped England up from an overnight 319-5 to 499 all out, a first-innings lead of 151.

Carse (3-22) then removed Devon Conway (8) and Rachin Ravindra (24) after Woakes – who was largely ineffective in New Zealand’s first dig – made Tom Latham (1) his first wicket of the match.

Williamson, backing up his 93 first time around and passing 9,000 runs in Tests, and Daryl Mitchell (31no) steadied New Zealand with a partnership of 69, only for Woakes’ twin strike and Carse’s lbw dismissal of Glenn Phillips (19) to put England bang on top.

Latham’s men largely have themselves to blame, even taking into account Brook’s brilliance and England’s fine bowling, with eight catches going down and the hosts also gifting wickets with a number of loose strokes when they batted on day one.

Brook adds to startling numbers as Stokes finds form

Brook is the third Englishman, after Joe Root and Walter Hammond, to pass 150 twice in New Zealand, having scored 183 in Wellington in 2023, while his average of 60.05 is second only to Herbert Sutcliffe (60.73) among England batters to play at least 20 Tests.

The Yorkshireman now has seven centuries across his first 22 Tests and is the eighth fastest to 2,000 runs in terms of innings (36).

However, Brook was spared on 18 – if Phillips had clung on in the gully, England would have been 77-5 – and then 41, 72 and 106 on Friday, before he was grassed once more on Saturday morning, on 147, as Phillips fluffed his lines in the gully again.

Phillips was guilty of three of the eight New Zealand drops, also spilling Carse on five at deep backward point, yet pulled off a jaw-dropping one-handed grab at backward point on day two to remove Ollie Pope for 77 and end a 151-run stand with Brook from 71-4.

Brook and Stokes extended their sixth-wicket partnership from 97 to 159 on day three as England pummelled 140 runs in the morning session – Brook the aggressor as he thumped five fours and an almighty six off Tim Southee (2-85), onto the pavilion roof over long-on.

Carse fires with bat and ball for England

Brook’s luck eventually ran out as he edged Matt Henry (4-84) behind to wicketkeeper Blundell but Stokes – who managed only 53 runs in four innings in Pakistan this autumn – put on 63 and 40 with Atkinson and Carse respectively before he holed out off Henry.

Atkinson and Carse clubbed five sixes and six fours between them, with the former eyeing a fifty to go with his 118 against Sri Lanka at Lord’s in August, only to then pick out Phillips at deep fine leg off the bowling of debutant Nathan Smith (3-141).

After Shoaib Bashir (5) was last man out, slogging Henry to midwicket, England made immediate inroads with the new ball – Latham edging Woakes to Brook at slip in the third over and Conway slapping Carse to a diving Atkinson at mid-on in the ninth.

A parlous position of 23-2 became 64-3 shortly after tea when Ravindra fell into the short-ball trap captain Stokes had deployed and spooned Carse to Jacob Bethell at deep square.

When Woakes then sent Williamson and Blundell packing, England were eyeing victory inside three days at Hagley Oval – New Zealand were 133-5 and still 18 runs in arrears at that stage – but they will now hope to polish things off early on day four.

England’s Test tour of New Zealand

• First Test: November 28-December 2 (Christchurch)
• Second Test: December 6-10 (Wellington)
• Third Test: December 14-18 (Hamilton)