Brydon Carse has returned to the England Lions squads for the tour of South Africa.
Carse last played for England during the Ashes Test in Sydney earlier this year. He was in the squad for the Test series against Pakistan but was stood down by England following an incident at a Derby nightclub in August. Following Durham's County Championship win over Derbyshire on August 22, the 31-year-old was arrested in the early hours of August 23 on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly, before being released.
He was escorted out of the nightclub in handcuffs and subsequently charged by the Cricket Regulatorwith breaching ECB Professional Conduct Regulation 3.2, which covers actions that bring the game into disrepute.
Carse's selection in the Lions squads hints at a possible return to the senior team's Test setup. The two four-day matches between England Lions and South Africa A will overlap with the three-Test series between the senior teams of the two countries.
With Tongue unavailable for at least the first Test, England have the option of calling up fast bowlers from the Lions squad, with four having international experience. Carse could be in contention, judging by national selector Marcus North's comments.
“It's obviously been a challenging time for Brydon,” he said. “At times we haven't felt that the demands of playing international cricket and what he was dealing with was necessarily right for Brydon or for us.
“There have been several - numerous - conversations between us, being myself, Rob Key, other people at the ECB, and Brydon over this period. The conclusion is we feel that he's in a place where we can introduce him back into the England environment, and we feel the Lions is the right place for him to come.”
Among the other players, Shoaib Bashir, who has been left out of the senior Test squad, is part of the Lions squad, alongside Ollie Pope, Mason Crane, Matthew Potts and Olly Stone. Rehan Ahmed has been included in the 50-over squad, while the ECB have not explicitly named captains for either squad.
The series will begin on December 1 with three 50-over games, before the four-day games begin on December 10.
England Lions red-ball squad
Shoaib Bashir, Brydon Carse, James Coles, Mason Crane, Henry Crocombe, Matthew Fisher, Jack Haynes, George Hill, Eddie Jack, Ben Mayes, Ben McKinney, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, James Rew, Thomas Rew, Mitch Stanley, Olly Stone, Asa Tribe
England Lions 50-over squad
Rehan Ahmed, Brydon Carse, Mason Crane, Adam Finch, Matthew Fisher, Calvin Harrison, Jack Haynes, George Hill, Ben Mayes, Ben McKinney, Ollie Pope, James Rew, Naavya Sharma, Ekansh Singh, Asa Tribe
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