England let Carse keep his central contract and he was back in the international fold at the first opportunity for the white-ball series against Australia in September.

Carse said he “can’t thank Stokes enough”. Ten-wicket hauls are a pretty good way to go about it. England looked after Carse. Now Carse is looking after England.

Even before the ban, Carse had taken a circuitous route to the England Test team. Born in South Africa, he has the coordinates of his place of birth in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) tattooed on his arm.

His father James played county cricket for Northamptonshire in the 1980s. The holder of a British passport, Carse qualified for England in 2019 and made his international debut two years later when an entire one-day squad had to be replaced because of a Covid outbreak.

Part of the Lions party shadowing the senior squad in Australia in 2021-22, Carse suffered a serious knee injury. It ruined his outside shout of a mid-series Ashes call-up.

Without the ban he would have been in line for a Test debut last summer, instead watching Gus Atkinson, Olly Stone and Josh Hull get a chance. Now he has his, Carse has thrived.

He is another England have identified as having the credentials for Test cricket despite not necessarily showing them in first-class cricket. Before his ban, Carse was averaging 106 with the ball for Durham this year. Prior to Christchurch he had not taken a first-class five-wicket haul in more than three years.

Carse said surfaces in county cricket don’t usually have the “carry” to suit his style of bowling. He likes to hit the deck.

In the Cricviz database dating back to 2006, there are 156 right-arm pace bowlers who have sent down at least 500 deliveries in Test cricket. With an average length of 8.5m away from the striker’s stumps, Carse bowls shorter than all of them.