‘Test bowling is different to county cricket – here’s why’

Brydon Carse has had a magnificent week and is now one of the names on everyone’s lips when it comes to looking ahead to the Ashes in Australia next year.

Carse’s stock has risen in each of his three Tests since he made his debut in Pakistan in October.

In taking 10 wickets in the first Test win over New Zealand in Christchurch he became the first England seamer to do so in an overseas match since Ryan Sidebottom in 2008. Stuart Broad and James Anderson never achieved it.

He is versatile, skilful and has a big heart.

The 29-year-old’s domestic numbers are unremarkable and in the not-too-distant past there is no chance he would have been given a Test cap.

In the past summer, albeit before his season was cut short by a ban for historical betting offences, Carse had four first-class wickets at an average of 106.

His last first-class five-wicket haul before Christchurch was in 2021. Whereas Carse has 19 Test wickets at an average of 17.1, his previous 19 first-class wickets cost almost 50 each.

The management of this England team do things differently, which is a good thing. There is a huge difference between county and international cricket beyond the pressure and scrutiny that comes with playing at the highest level.

Looking past his numbers it is clear to see why Carse may be far better suited to international cricket. Domestic cricket is not helping him hone his skills to become a better Test bowler.

It is a misconception every pitch in the County Championship is a green seamer.

Certainly there are plenty of pitches that favour slow-medium-pacers, but the lazy assumption that a wily bowler like Darren Stevens, formerly of Kent, would take all the wickets on any domestic surface is wrong.

There are good, flat batting surfaces on the circuit. The thing that is so different to international cricket is the lack of bounce.

A tall, hit-the-deck bowler like Carse is not going to be as effective on pitches that do not bounce, regardless of whether they are flat or not. Carse even highlighted the bounce in the Christchurch pitch as a factor in his success.

The time groundstaff have between county games is not sufficient to prepare and roll a pitch to the hardness of an international surface. A Test pitch is loved and nurtured for weeks, if not months, before it is used. It feels as though domestic pitches have to be whipped up out of necessity, rather than curation.

The other issue is the whereabouts on the square a Championship match is played. You might think that one part of the square is the same as another, but it does make a difference.

Pitches in the middle of the square are usually reserved for internationals, T20 Blast matches, Hundred games, if a county is lucky to be a host, or other televised matches, because of where the camera and stump mic equipment sits.

Therefore, Championship matches are pushed to the edge of the square, which often results in a miniscule boundary on one side.

By their very nature, tall and fast bowlers can leak runs and are more likely to if there is a postage-stamp boundary on one half of the ground.

Captains and coaches hate it if their bowlers are expensive – controlling the scoreboard is a common tactic for building pressure in county cricket.

Gus Atkinson is another tall, hit-the-pitch bowler who has had a stellar start to his England career. He was bowling second-change for Surrey when he made his Test debut earlier this year and was even at risk of being dropped. Now he has 43 Test wickets at an average of 22.6, usually opening the bowling.

At one of my old teams, Middlesex, there are a couple of bowlers who I believed had the attributes for international cricket when I first saw them bowl.

Tom Helm and Blake Cullen are both tall and naturally hit the pitch back of a length. But Middlesex, in an attempt to control the scoreboard and win games, wanted something different.

They have regularly chosen Ryan Higgins, Tim Murtagh, now retired, and Ethan Bamber, who has since joined Warwickshire, ahead of the faster, hit-the-deck bowlers. They would bowl fuller, slower, at the stumps and often with the keeper standing up.

This isn’t a criticism of what these guys do, because they are incredibly skilful and their numbers are superb. They just have skills very different to what is usually required in international cricket. It is why picking a Test team on domestic records alone would be too simplistic, it requires more nuance.

Without falling down the rabbit hole of the domestic schedule, it also needs a mention.

Across April and May, when a county can play around seven Championship matches, a player’s life can look like this: play for four days, travel home (often arriving late if you’ve been away), day off, training day, travel to the next game, play for four days and repeat.

Travel is done sitting in a car or on a coach, floating from one game to another. The goal is not getting injured, rather than bowling flat out.

In my experience, all kinds of cricketers have to modify their games in order to stay afloat in the domestic game, let alone get recognised by England.

Fast bowlers bowling within themselves, spinners snatching an over here or there in freezing conditions in April, batters batting outside of their crease in order to mitigate the movement from a nagging seamer. All of these are vastly different from playing in a Test.

It’s really important to say that records in domestic cricket should not be completely overlooked just because there is a new way of assessing attributes and skillsets.

There is so, so much to love about county cricket. The domestic game nurtures talent and its importance to the sport in our country should not be underestimated.

However, selecting fast bowlers who can thrive and survive at the highest level is a difficult task. Sometimes it requires looking beyond the bare numbers.

Times are changing and England may have a selection policy that arms them with fast bowlers capable of success in all conditions.

In Carse and Atkinson they have unearthed two gems.