Tuesday 6 August 2013 14:01, UK
Michael Carberry is hoping some more spectacular performances in the Friends Life t20 will allow him to gain international exposure of an alternative kind.
Carberry added: "At this stage, anyone can win it. Everyone is here for a reason: as the best team of their group or a next best team of their group. Everyone is a threat now and every game is a final. "If you lose you are out, as simple as that. We've tried to look at our own performance rather than who we're playing or what names are on (the team sheet). "At the end of the day we know that in Twenty20 cricket, names and reputations go out of the window, it's about trying to win the game." Although he has been dispatching the white ball to all parts this season, Carberry, who recently passed 10,000 first-class runs, forged his reputation as a dominant County Championship batsman. When Andrew Strauss retired last year many put his name forward as a potential England replacement, but first Nick Compton and subsequently Joe Root have been preferred at the top of the order. The prospects of a call-up now look slim even though Carberry has not totally given up on one day adding to his lone Test cap. "You always have to remain slightly optimistic because that's what gets you out of bed every day but on the same token I'm not sitting here as a 23-year-old, I'm sitting here as nearly a 33-year-old," he said. "There are not many guys starting international careers at the age I am. Yes, people have said to me, 'look at (Australia batsman) Chris Rogers', but there are two different set-ups. "At the moment the Australia team is in transition, whereas I'm playing in a country where our national team is very strong at the moment and we are churning out a lot of very good cricketers who are young and the system wants to give them their chance. "Unfortunately, guys like myself get phased out which is disappointing because I've gone on the record and said, 'I feel I've done everything I can'. "But it's the way the selectors want to go and I can't change their minds for them. I'm not prepared to sit here and cry over spilt milk, there are other avenues that have opened up." Reigning champions Hampshire host Lancashire on Wednesday 3 August at The Ageas Bowl, in the quarter finals of the Friends Life t20 competition. For further information and tickets, please visit ecb.co.uk/FLt20
