As England continue to formulate plans for next winter's Ashes campaign in Australia, hardy Durham seamer Brydon Carse is beginning to look like a shoo-in.
Carse was slapped with a three-month ban during the 2024 home season for historical gambling offences, having placed 303 bets on various cricket matches between 2017 and 2019, none of which, it is important to add, involved fixtures he played in.
That absence from the game could have knocked him back but he used it to work on his fitness and for a little refresh.
England are now reaping the rewards and New Zealand have suffered, with the 29-year-old claiming a 10-wicket match haul in Christchurch as the tourists wrapped up an eight-wicket win on day four.
This time next year, when The Ashes will be in full swing, Australia may be worked over by the pacey Carse, too, as he appears to have the qualities to thrive in that part of the world.
Carse said: "I've had my fair share of bad luck with certain things. But whatever has happened over the last couple of years, this is where I'm at now and I'm just looking ahead. I was always ambitious to think I can play cricket at this level."
A quick glance at Carse and you could be forgiven for thinking he was all about brute force. He stands 6ft 3in tall and was regularly charged with banging the ball into the pitch in Pakistan in October on surfaces that did not really aid the pacers.
England should profit from his heart, durability, speed and bounce in Australia, on decks that can be hard and flat and where back-breaking spells are often needed, but Carse has no shortage of skill either, showing his ability to move the ball against New Zealand.
During his first-innings four-for, he had Tom Latham caught behind from a delivery that nipped away, rushed Daryl Mitchell with a short ball, removed Tim Southee with a rising delivery and then detonated tailender Will O'Rourke's stumps with a pinpoint yorker.
In the Black Caps' second knock, he had Devon Conway out on the pull before Rachin Ravindra fell hook, line and sinker for the short-ball ploy and flapped into the deep.
Carse showed his range once again for his next three wickets as he pinned Glenn Phillips, Nathan Smith and Matt Henry lbw with nip-backers, before becoming the first England bowler to take a 10-wicket match haul away from home since Monty Panesar in Mumbai in 2012 when he had Mitchell caught at long-off.
England's call to pick Carse is looking a shrewd one, with the South Africa-born bowler building on his impressive debut series in Pakistan, when he took nine wickets across the first two Tests at an average of 24.33 before being rested for the third.
Speaking after the win over New Zealand, captain Ben Stokes said of Durham team-mate Carse: "I have grown up with Brydon and known his potential and talent. There was no doubt in my mind he was going to have an impact at the top level.
"To have someone in your attack who can almost be three bowlers in one is massive. I use him as the enforcer when we go to the short-pitched stuff, but he's also taken a lot of wickets and his economy rate has been below three.
"He has the heart of a lion. Whenever you chuck him the ball he's going to give 100 per cent - he would keep bowling even if his toe was ripped off. He wouldn't show any pain, he'd just keep going and going.
"He's just worked incredibly hard to get himself here and I think he's going to be playing for England for a long time now."
Jofra Archer and Mark Wood's names always come up when talk turns to the battery of fast bowlers England will hope to take to Australia. If they are fit, they will surely go.
Gus Atkinson is fast becoming a lock after starting his Test career with 42 wickets in nine games at an average of 22.64, including a 12-wicket haul on debut against West Indies at Lord's as the baton was proverbially passed on from the retiring James Anderson.
But we can now add Carse to that mix - not just for his bowling.
In England's recent Ashes horror shows in Australia, a significant factor has been the ease with which the Baggy Greens have blown away the tourists' tail. Yet, Australia may find that harder to do next time around with batting depth building for Stokes' side.
Not only do they have Atkinson, who hit a stonking Test century against Sri Lanka in August and then a quick-fire 48 against New Zealand in Christchurch, but Carse, too.
The latter averages above 30 in first-class cricket with two centuries and five fifties, while, after being dropped on five by New Zealand at Hagley Oval, he went on to smoke an unbeaten 33 from 24 balls, mowing sixes over deep square, long-on and deep fine leg.
Carse coming in at nine or 10 against Australia could be a huge boost in England's bid to win there for the first time since 2010/11. Wherever he bats, he looks increasingly certain to be on the tour.
