A talented left-handed opening batsman, Michael Carberry began his career at Surrey in 2001 but lack of opportunities forced him to join Kent. However, with the same situation on the cards he left Kent too and joined Hampshire in 2006. Some gutsy performances from then on made sure that he settled down well in 2007 and this paved the way for his selection in the England Lions tour of India in 2008.

Carberry raced like a jet plane from then on as he scored two hundreds on the same tour and was a prolific run getter in the 2009 season with four centuries which included a classy 204 against Warwickshire at Rose Bowl. Termed as one of the best fielders in the county circuit, his hard work finally paid off when he was called up to the national Test side against Bangladesh in early 2012. He made 30 and 34 in the two innings he got but wasn't selected in the second Test with England going for the 5th bowling option. He suffered a huge setback when a blood clot in his lung ruled him out of the England Performance Programme trip to Australia in November 2010. But he made a miraculous comeback and hit a career best 300 not out against Yorkshire. In 2012, he played an important role in helping Hampshire win their second T20 title in three years, beating Yorkshire by 10 runs in the final. Later that year, he was added to the T20 squad for Hampshire's first Champions League T20 outing, in South Africa.

Just when one would have felt that Carberry went out of reckoning for the national team, he was recalled for the ODI series against Australia in 2013 but the major reprieve came when he was chosen for the Ashes later that year and featured in the playing XI right away at the 'Gabba for the first Test until the final one in Sydney. The entire English batting line-up, with the exception of Ben Stokes struggled in the series but Carberry managed to get decent starts on most of the opportunities.