England Exclude Carse Again as Pakistan Makes Radical Changes for Edgbaston Test

England will chase a clean sweep over Pakistan at Edgbaston without Brydon Carse, as the Durham seamer remains out of the Test squad and under police investigation.

Carse, 31, was dropped for the second Test at Lord’s after being briefly arrested following an incident outside a Derby nightclub on 22 August. Derbyshire Police say he remains under investigation over allegations of assault. He has not been recalled for the third and final Test in Birmingham.

Sonny Baker, the 23-year-old quick who came in for Carse at Lord’s, keeps his place in an otherwise familiar 15-man group. The only other change is the omission of Surrey seamer Matthew Fisher, with England sticking largely to the formula that has delivered a dominant series so far.

The final Test starts at Edgbaston on Wednesday, 9 September at 11:00 BST, with England eyeing a series whitewash and a statement finish to their home red-ball summer.

Carse on the sidelines, futures in flux

Carse remains available for Durham selection and underlined his quality last week with match figures of 4-95 in a win over Gloucestershire. Even so, he has not been picked in their XI for the current match against Northamptonshire, which began on Wednesday, underlining the uncertainty around his immediate future.

His absence leaves the door ajar for Baker, Essex seamer Sam Cook and Derbyshire spinner Shoaib Bashir to shoulder more of the load as England juggle formats and workloads.

Baker’s only Test appearance came in a heavily rotated side against New Zealand at The Oval in June. Cook, 29, has just a single cap, earned against Zimbabwe last summer. Bashir, 22, is still waiting for his first outing of this series, watching on as England have backed an all-pace attack.

The pressure on the seamers is only going to rise. Once Pakistan are done, six white-ball matches against Sri Lanka loom, and several of England’s quicks are central to both red- and white-ball plans.

That is where the selection tightrope begins.

Workload puzzle for Archer, Atkinson and Tongue

Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson and Josh Tongue are all named in the Test squad and all feature prominently in England’s limited-overs plans. With Sri Lanka on the horizon, the temptation to rotate is obvious.

England may yet shuffle their pack across the Edgbaston Test, leaning more heavily on Baker, Cook or Bashir to protect their front-line quicks from burnout. An unchanged squad does not necessarily mean an unchanged XI, especially with a packed white-ball schedule about to bite.

For now, the message is clear: one more push for a clean sweep, then the focus swings sharply to the shorter formats.

Pakistan tear it up before Birmingham

If England’s tweaks are measured, Pakistan’s are seismic.

On the eve of the Edgbaston Test, Pakistan have dropped seven players, called up five uncapped names and parted company with their head coach. It is a radical reset in the middle of a tour.

Sarfaraz Ahmed has been replaced by Pakistan white-ball coach Mike Hesson, who steps in to lead a side suddenly stripped of several familiar faces. Muhammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Ali Usman and Khurram Shahzad – all involved in the series so far – are among those jettisoned.

It is an extraordinary gamble. New blood, new coach, same cauldron at Edgbaston.

England, steady and settled despite the noise around Carse and the demands of the calendar, stand one win away from a sweep. Pakistan arrive with a team ripped up and rewritten on the fly.

Birmingham will show which approach has a future.