Leeds, June 18 (IANS) England quick Brydon Carse is relishing the opportunity to play against India for a home Test debut at the Headingley Cricket Ground in the first of the five-Test series that kicks off the English Test summer. Carse made his debut in the longest format in the tour of Pakistan and continued with the side for their tour of New Zealand. Across five matches, he racked up 27 scalps with a career best of 6-42 against the Kiwis at Christchurch in November.

“Headingley is an unbelievable ground. I’ve played a bit of white-ball cricket there over the last couple of years for England and in The Hundred, but to be able to play a home Test against India is going to be pretty exciting, and I cannot wait to get going,” said Carse in the pre-game press conference.

The 29-year-old has not played since injuring his toe while playing in the Champions Trophy in February and missed out on making his home Test debut against Zimbabwe in the one-off Test.

Carse is adamant he will be taking the five-game series against India as an opportunity to show the different skills he brings to the table.

“I think it’s a great opportunity, I’ve spoken before about the group of ten fast bowlers that England have, a couple of injuries are in there, but we’ve still got a pretty healthy stock of bowling to pick from and it’s another opportunity in home conditions to show the different skills that I can bring to the team,” Carse added.

The five-Test series against India will be the first challenge of what will be a gruelling year for England in Test cricket. After hosting India, England will play two white-ball series against South Africa and Ireland before travelling to Australia for The Ashes, where the team has not won a Test match since 2011.

“The Test squad joined up a couple of weeks before the Zimbabwe Test, and we outlined some plans and goals that we wanna achieve, you know, throughout this calendar year. What an opportunity to start against, you know, one of the best sides in the world in India, and ten Test matches that this group is really looking forward to,” Carse said.

–IANS

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