Brydon Carse is confident England can rock Australia with pace again during the day-night second Ashes Test in Brisbane as the tourists look to level up the five-match series.
England’s batting malfunctioned in both innings in Perth last week as they suffered an eight-wicket defeat inside two days – but the five-pronged seam attack rattled Australia in their opening knock, rolling the tourists for 132 and averaging 88mph combined.
Carse was joined in the side by fellow seamers Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson and captain Ben Stokes and all bar Wood (knee injury) are likely to be deployed in the pink-ball game at The Gabba from Thursday (4am start UK time).
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Atherton says England must bounce back in the second Ashes Test otherwise the series is essentially over
Carse, who took four wickets in Perth, said: “I’d like to think there’ll certainly be moments, in this game, and throughout the series, where we can have that sort of impact, on the Australian batting line-up.
“We’ve got to take massive amounts of confidence from that first day in Perth. As a group of seamers we all offer different skills and attributes so hopefully we can continue to trouble some of the Australian batters.
“It’s special to be part of a pace attack like that, we’ve certainly got players and bowlers that are exciting and can hopefully change games.”
Who replaces Wood for Brisbane Test?
England could replace Wood like-for-like by picking fellow seamer Josh Tongue or perhaps select a spinner in either Shoaib Bashir or Will Jacks.
Australia left-arm quick Mitchell Starc is the most prolific bowler in day-night Tests with 81 wickets in 14 games at an average of 17.08 but off-spinner Nathan Lyon has bagged 43 in 13 at 25.62 to prove slow bowlers can make an impact in pink-ball games.
Shoaib Bashir is a contender to play in Brisbane if England select a spinner
Sky Sports’ Michael Atherton said: “You are still going to get three and a half hours under daylight before the lights take effect, so I don’t think a spinner is out of the equation.”
Speaking last week, Atherton’s fellow Sky Sports pundit and former England captain Nasser Hussain said of Tongue, who has bagged 31 wickets in six Tests at an average of 30 with two five-wicket hauls: “He can spray the ball around when it moves around but he has this knack of taking wickets and getting good players out.
“He is quick enough, bowls the short ball well. He angles away towards the off-side and the ball looks like it is coming in then nips away and gets batters caught in the slips.
“He creates good angles, is a genuine wicket taker and would add to any side.”
Tongue has 31 wickets in six Tests for England, with two five-fors
Carse to be ‘adaptable’ in pink-ball Test
Australia have won 13 of their 14 day-night Tests – including all three against their Ashes rivals – with England’s record two wins and five defeats in seven pink-ball games.
Carse added: “It will be interesting to see how it goes. The general chat is that in the twilight period the ball does do a bit more.
“Looking back at a couple of highlights of previous games played in Australia, it’s certainly very admirable how their new-ball bowling goes.
“They’ve played some really good cricket with a pink ball and I’d like to say that we’ve had a look at some of the stuff that they’ve done over the previous years.
“As soon as we get out there, we’ll assess those conditions. I’ll still be adaptable to whatever the situation brings.”
Brydon Carse has been training with the pink ball ahead of the day-nighter in Brisbane from Thursday
Ashes series in Australia 2025-26
All times UK and Ireland
First Test (Perth – November 21-25): Australia beat England by eight wicketsSecond Test (day/night): Thursday December 4 – Monday December 8 (4am) – The Gabba, BrisbaneThird Test: Wednesday December 17 – Sunday December 21 (11.30pm) – Adelaide OvalFourth Test: Thursday December 25 – Monday December 29 (11.30pm) – Melbourne Cricket GroundFifth Test: Sunday January 4 – Thursday January 8 (11.30pm) – Sydney Cricket Ground
