CWC 2023: Brydon Carse announced as injured Reece Topley’s replacement

Reece Topley suffered a finger injury while bowling during England’s fourth match of the 2023 World Cup against South Africa at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on October 21.

He had to go off the field for a while before he returned to bowl a few more overs. However, he was in clear discomfort and it was subsequently announced after the game that Topley has been ruled out of the rest of the World Cup.

Several names were doing the rounds for the potential replacement of Topley, but the England think tank has decided to go in with right-arm seamer Brydon Carse.

28-year-old Carse, who was born in South Africa, made his ODI debut two years back against Pakistan in July 2021. Since then, he has featured in 12 ODIs for England, having taken 14 wickets at an average of 33.92. Carse recently made his T20I debut, taking 3-23 in his first outing for England in the shortest format in August this year.

There were some voices in the English cricket community including that of former fast bowler Steve Harmison, that had called for the inclusion of Carse in the original 15-member squad in place of one of the left-arm seamers. While his call-up has come about in unfortunate circumstances, this is a huge opportunity that Carse would be looking to grab with both hands.

Carse’s selection was approved by the Event Technical Committee of the World Cup which is a pre-requisite before a player can be officially added to the squad.

England have not had a great start to the tournament and are looking at a potentially early exit from the semi-final qualification race as they have lost three of their first four matches. With Topley injured, Adil Rashid is now favourite with Betway to finish as England’s leading World Cup wicket-taker.

Their next match is against Sri Lanka on October 26 in Bengaluru. They’d hope that the inclusion of Carse might bring with a change of fortunes for them.