England have left the door open for Brydon Carse to return to the Test side after the fast bowler was called up to the 15-man Lions squad for their tour of South Africa.

The 31-year-old was dropped from the Test squad midway through their summer series against Pakistan after he was arrested and later 'de-arrested' following an incident outside a Derby nightclub in August.

Derbyshire police ended their investigation into the incident in September, but Carse was later charged by the Cricket Regulator and is yet to learn his fate.

Carse has since spent some time away from the international scene, returning to play for Durham in the County Championship.

"It's obviously been a challenging time for Brydon," England national selector Marcus North said after naming both the senior and Lions squads to tour South Africa from early December.

"There's been numerous conversations between myself Rob Key (managing director of men's cricket), and other people at the ECB with Brydon over this period.

"The conclusion is we feel he's in a place where we can introduce him back into the England environment.

"We feel the Lions is the right place for him."

Carse could fill in for Tongue

North also fielded questions on whether Carse could return to the squad as cover for Josh Tongue for the side's three-Test series against South Africa, live on Sky Sports.

Tongue has been ruled out of England's white-ball tour of Australia due to a toe injury and he will also miss the first Test in Johannesburg on December 17 to return home for the birth of his second child.

"Come that first Test, Josh Tongue is unavailable," North said. "So that will leave us with 14 players.

"This is where I feel we're using the Lions to our advantage, you can see there that we've got a very strong bowling group in that programme."

He added: "Stephen Fleming will be out there at that time. So it enables us to be as informed as possible to if we need to bring one or two players across into the squad come that first Test."

'Not the end of the road for Bashir just yet'

"Marcus North insists Shoaib Bashir still has a big international future, but dropping him for the upcoming tour of South Africa marks a definite change of direction.

"Bashir was fast-tracked into the Test side by Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum having played only six first-class games.

"He was heavily backed by the previous regime, but with Joe Root and Stephen Fleming now in charge of the Test team, his future looks less certain.

"Bashir is 23 and remains the only specialist red-ball spinner with an ECB central contract, so it's not the end of the road by any stretch - but it does feel like a significant speed bump."

Patterson-White call-up shows ECB will reward county players

"Liam Patterson-White has been rewarded for his excellent form for Nottinghamshire. His 42 County Championship wickets last season was the most by a Division One spinner.

"What's more - and in stark contrast to Bashir - he's also a very capable batter who has three first-class hundreds to his name.

"His selection is also another sign the ECB are committed to rewarding form in the County Championship, something that was highlighted for improvement in the post-Ashes review."

Bethell could open

"Jacob Bethell will return from injury for the South Africa tour, but where he will bat remains unclear. In Bethell's absence, Jordan Cox averaged 50 batting at three during the summer's Pakistan series.

"North said England haven't yet decided their top six for South Africa and didn't rule out Bethell opening the batting. It's a good problem to have but one of Fleming and Root's most pressing issues is to figure out how to accommodate all their best batters."