Brydon Carse impressed against Pakistan after a long wait to make his England Test debut

He has already impressed in white-ball cricket, taking eight wickets in last month's ODIs against Australia in completely different conditions. “Playing one-day cricket in England in seven or eight degrees is very different to coming here and it had different challenges,” Carse said. “But I really enjoyed the challenge and the role I played this week.”

Carse took four wickets at 106 in his four Championship games for Durham that season, but the English management viewed these performances as completely irrelevant. They value attributes, not averages, and believe Carse's quick pace and stamina would enable him to withstand the rigors of playing Test cricket abroad.

The prospect of days like Friday, when he completed and then celebrated his first Test victory, helped him through some dark moments. “I had some time to work on a few things I wanted and improve my fitness in certain areas,” he said. “I came back refreshed and just wanted to do well and play as much as possible for England.”

Carse was chosen for the first Test ahead of his Durham teammate Matt Potts because England want to have at least one genuinely fast bowler in their attack every time they take the field. He regularly reached 90 miles per hour, or 145 km/h, on the first day of testing and maintained his pace throughout the game, hitting Aamer Jamal on the helmet with a short ball on the final morning.

He batted at number 9 and hit a six off his second ball to take England past 800. “I wanted to tease the guys by saying, 'I don't think many of you hit the bullseye with a six-pointer,'” Carse joked. He could be a useful No.8 across the board – as evidenced by two first-class hundreds, most recently against Somerset in August.

Carse has been on England's radar for some time: born and raised in South Africa, he toured with the Lions in 2019/20 shortly after qualifying. He made his ODI debut in 2021 when England's first squad was decimated by Covid protocols and impressed some senior players this winter when he was part of the Lions squad that accompanied England's Ashes tour.

On the fourth evening in Multan, Carse proved that he has both skill and stamina. He had been gifted a wicket with his first ball in Pakistan's second innings – Saim Ayub batted wildly until mid-game – and was bowling alongside Chris Woakes, who had started to reverse the ball. Woakes passed on the message and Carse pounced.

“I joked with him and said, 'Here we go, I'm going to target the stumps,'” Carse said. “And the next ball it turned around again.” The ball came back late and skidded off the top of Mohammad Rizwan's back pad before firing into the top of middle stump. “I felt like I bowled pretty well to him in the last over, so it was a nice feeling to get him out.”

Along with Potts, Gus Atkinson and Josh Tongue, Carse was one of the fast bowlers England invested heavily in last winter, handing them two-year central contracts to build up a stock of fast bowlers ahead of next year's Ashes tour. They have a similar profile: they are all sailors and not swing bowlers whose stick balls snap back into place.

At 29 years old, Carse is the oldest of these four. After his suspension this summer, which reinforced the temporary nature of a sporting career, he exudes the feel of a player determined to make the most of his opportunity. “It was a special five days,” he said. “It was hard work and it was difficult at times today (Friday), but to come away with a win is very rewarding.”