The toughest moment for Brydon Carse while he was being investigated for historical betting offences was owning up to his Durham team-mates.
But there was one who gave him invaluable advice that he is now trying to follow in an interview with Telegraph Sport, his first since his three-month suspension was imposed.
“Ben Stokes was one of the first people that I told. He said learn from it, be truthful and honest. Go through the process, and things will get better over time,” says Carse.
Classic Stokes. Own your mistake but do not let it define you. “He gave me his point of view and he was very good every time I saw him after that at making sure we just had normal conversations and he didn’t harp on too much about it. Having him around was a real positive.”
Carse is speaking at the Riverside in the first week of September and it already feels like winter, the rain sweeping across the ground and Lumley Castle barely visible in the mist.
His ban only ended a week before we met, on August 28, but already he feels renewed, hoping to grab what remains of the season with England. Two days before his ban elapsed he was named in the white-ball squads for the Twenty20 and ODI series against Australia that start in Southampton on Wednesday and in the Test squad for the tour Pakistan. He marked his first game back for Durham last week with a hundred and three wickets. From the depths of wondering if he had blown his career to verge of Test cap is remarkable turnaround. He has lots to talk about.
Stoked by the fire of redemption
The cloud that hung over him from the moment he learned he was facing a disciplinary charge has lifted. “It’s definitely given me, I don’t want to say, a new lease of life, but, there’s a lot more fire within me and points that I want to prove to myself and to other people. I’m really looking forward to getting stuck in.
“I fully accept my actions and the punishment that was given to me, but it’s something that I want to put behind me and just continue looking forward to putting good performances in on the cricket field and playing as much as I can in an England shirt,” he says.
Carse was travelling from Durham to Edgbaston for his first game of the county season in early April when he received a phone call that changed his life. It was the cricket regulator calling. They had uncovered bets he had placed on cricket matches – more than 300 – between 2017 and 2019. Mostly it was in-game betting, small amounts, while Carse was watching matches on television at home.
It did not involve games he played in and he was not accused of fixing in any way but it was a clear breach of the regulations and he had no excuse given the extensive anti-corruption education programmes the players go through.
The bets were placed on seven or eight days across the three-year period and involved 30 to 50 bets on each occasion. Carse says he has never had a gambling addiction. He was young, injured and bored with time on his hands when most of the bets were placed. He had not long arrived in the UK from South Africa when it started and admits he was still immature, and accepts what he did was wrong.
It is likely his name was flagged up by the England and Wales Cricket Board’s investigators for extra checks when he was in the Hundred draft. Governing bodies work closely with betting regulators, they can easily cross-reference databases. They had been investigating his case for at least a year before the call was made as he travelled to Edgbaston. He held his hands up very quickly.
The phone call that changed his life
“When I received that phone call on the way down to Birmingham, it took me massively by shock and surprise, and I mentioned on the phone call to the regulator that I wasn’t sure what he was talking about, because the details were now quite vague. And I asked: ‘Could you let me know when these incidents took place?’ And he obviously mentioned between 2017 and 2019, and the penny dropped.
“Then, you know, I knew what I had done. I probably didn’t realise the severity of what I’d done at that time. But I rang my agent and spoke to Durham and then spoke to England. And I think from day one, once I had the initial interview with the regulator, I accepted that what I’d done was wrong.
“The majority of the bets were made between 2017 and 2018 when I think I played one or two professional games of cricket and I had two long-term injuries. I was injured and incredibly upset, probably not in a great psychological state of mind at the time. I’ve worked with a lot of people over a number of years and now have a close support structure, and I was a different person back then. Ultimately, it was stupid and silly mistakes that I made.
“When you’re going through different struggles or you’re injured as a sportsman, you make silly decisions and silly mistakes and looking back at that time because of me not playing cricket, I probably excluded myself from a lot of things. I didn’t speak up about some of the challenges that I was facing at that time. And that’s probably the biggest thing that I’ve learned over a number of years now, that there are people out there that you can trust and that you can speak to, and I’m very fortunate that through this whole process, there’s been people in England, in the PCA (Professional Cricketers’ Association) and Durham that have supported me and really been helpful to me.”
Terrible timing
The investigation was shattering for Carse. Rob Key, the England director of cricket, started the summer by challenging bowlers like him. If they hit the ground running they stood a great chance of being part of the evolution of England’s Test team. With a two-year central contract and with plenty of experience, now aged 29, Carse was right to think this could be his summer, his opportunity to break into the Test side and add to his 14 ODI caps.
With that phone call his Test dreams this summer ended. Not surprisingly his form fell away. He took nought for 128 in 19 overs in that game against Warwickshire, and nought for 92 in his next match, his mind on other matters. When he was banned for three months, it opened the door to others. Gus Atkinson, a similarly tall right-arm quick who can bat at eight, burst through instead and 20-year-old Josh Hull made his Test debut at the Oval.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it. Those initial four to six weeks when the investigation was ongoing were incredibly tough mentally. It no doubt had an impact on my performances on the cricket field,” he says. “Anyone that knows me knows what type of character I am in a group, and especially at Durham. And I just wasn’t myself.”
Marcus North, Durham’s director of cricket, put a very Australian stamp on the approach. He told Carse to front up. “After a couple of conversations with Marcus North, I felt that it was the correct thing to address the team and to address the coaching staff as a whole, because there was still a point of time where only I knew that this was going on. I remember sitting down with them in the changing room on one of the training days, and told them. The response that I got off the players was something that really gave me a sense of comfort and support.
Coming clean in the dressing room the best decision
“Something that we’ve always said is that we will always have each other’s backs in that squad. It’s quite a close-knit team. You know, everyone lives only 15-20 minutes away from each other. So initially, the thought of addressing the team was daunting, but once I had done it, that was probably the best thing that I could have done because I trust a lot of those guys in that changing room. I’ve got some really close friends in there who I respect a lot. And ultimately I wanted that respect as well from them.”
Carse was suspended for 16 months in total, 13 months suspended. He shut himself away for the first month of his ban before starting to work with Graham Onions, the Durham bowling coach, on his red-ball skills believing he would be playing championship cricket in the final few weeks of the season. “If I’m being completely honest, I probably didn’t have it [England] on my radar.”
With so much cricket this winter – five tours across all formats – there are plenty of opportunities for Carse to put this behind him if he bowls well against Australia. He remains part of the fast-bowling “battery” England would love to have primed and ready for the Ashes. There is a lot to gain if he can move on.
“This next month will be a big month for me personally. I’ve got a bit of a point to prove to myself and hopefully I can put in a couple of good performances. Playing now almost feels like a clean slate, and I’ve got no burden hanging over me.”
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