Michael Carberry appeared to have established himself as 'next cab off the rank' behind England's well established opening pair of Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook when he made his Test debut (in place of the resting Strauss) against Bangladesh in early 2010. In November of that year, however, he was ruled out of the England Performance Programme trip to Australia after suffering a blood clot in his lung and it looked for a time as though his career might be over.

Carberry missed the first three months of the 2011 season but then returned to the Hampshire side with startling effect: he scored an unbeaten 300 during a Championship match against Yorkshire and shared in a third-wicket partnership of 523 with Neil McKenzie. Following his illness he was unable to take long-haul flights but he remained on England's radar with the selectors naming him in their Lions side to face the touring West Indies in May 2012.

Much earlier, his decision to move to Hampshire, after becoming frustrated with a lack of opportunities at Kent and Surrey, where he made just one appearance in the strong Championship-winning side of 2002, seemed to provide just the spark he needed. By 2007 Carberry, a talented left-handed opening batsman, finally appeared to have settled into his south-coast home, scoring 1,000 runs in the Championship, a performance that earned him a call-up to the England Lions tour of India in early 2008.

Carberry performed admirably on that tour, scoring two hundreds, and was also one of three centurions in the Lions' game against New Zealand in May 2008. His reputation in domestic cricket continued to grow, and he scored 1,251 runs at 69.50 in 12 County Championship in the 2009 season, with four hundreds - the highlight being a fluent 204 against Warwickshire at the Rose Bowl - until a broken finger ruled him out of the end of the campaign.

Also renowned as one of the best fielders in county cricket, Carberry had done enough to earn a stint with the England Performance Programme in Pretoria, South Africa, in December 2009. He impressed with a century against Gauteng, and was called up to the England squad for the third Test against South Africa at Cape Town as cover for Paul Collingwood, who had dislocated a finger. Collingwood recovered in time for Carberry's inclusion to be unnecessary, but he was called into England's squad for the Test series in Bangladesh in 2010 and an opening duly arrived.
ESPNcricinfo staff