Having been tied down by Bangladesh to a degree few Test bowling attacks have managed during his 49-Test career, Alex Carey is desperate to ensure his milestone match coincides with Australian atonement in northern Queensland this week.
Ninety-nine years ago, Mackay birthed its first international cricketer, Wally Grout, the grizzled son of a Walkerston policeman who went on to become Australia’s second wicketkeeper to notch 50 Tests and whose constant chirp behind the stumps earnt him the nickname ‘The Voice’.
On Saturday, the less abrasive Carey will walk onto Great Barrier Reef Arena as the seventh, his skill-set reflecting wicketkeeping fundamentals that Grout would have approved of as well as a run-scoring capacity now expected of modern glovemen.
“Picked as a wicketkeeper, that’s my number one role in the team,” the South Australian told reporters ahead of Saturday’s second NRMA Insurance Test against Bangladesh. “I guess if you said your wicketkeeping’s got worse, then I haven’t been working on the right things. I’m always looking for ways to improve it from Test one to Test two to now 50.
“To play 50 Tests – it’s great. I want to play a lot more … if I look back from the start to now, I feel like I’ve learned a lot about my game and myself as a person.
“When you start out, you’re going after that position, and then there’s times where you’ve got other guys snapping at your heels. But … I feel like I’ve really nailed that process the past couple of years.”
But just as Australia have pondered the causes of their shock defeat to ninth-ranked Bangladesh last week, so too does Carey’s own performance in Darwin stick out as a major outlier.
With the bat, the 34-year-old is the best performed Australian keeper outside of the modern-era’s benchmark, Adam Gilchrist.
And like Gilchrist, Carey’s best moments at the crease have been quick-scoring affairs. His strike-rate has surpassed 70 in all except one of his nine 50-plus innings since the start of 2024, in which time his overall Test strike-rate has been 72.76. In 39 innings before that it stood at 56.80.
Among those game-turning post-2024 knocks was his unbeaten 98 from 123 balls against New Zealand in Christchurch in March of that year, an effort Carey today agreed had been something of a turning point in his career following a decline after the taxing 2023 Ashes.
“I probably wasn’t playing the cricket I wanted to be playing at the time,” he said when asked about the near-ton that spearheaded a fourth-innings chase of 279 and came after he took 10 catches for the match. “I learned a lot about my game and was able to take a lot from that innings. That partnership with ‘Bison’ (Mitch Marsh, putting on 140 together after Australia had been 4-34) was really special. From an individual point of view that one definitely stands out.”
All of which points to the 49 runs he eked out from 115 balls in two innings during the upset loss to Bangladesh – only once in his career has he faced 60 balls or more in a Test and scored slower – as an aberration.
Mehidy Hasan in particular put the brakes on the left-hander in allowing him just six scoring shots from 48 deliveries, the off-spinner also capturing his edge to dismiss him at a crucial juncture on day four.
But without diminishing Bangladesh’s well-drilled attack, Carey noted the impact of Marrara Stadium’s tight drop-in table that only featured one other prepared pitch in negating his strong scoring areas square of the wicket.
In contrast, the immaculate Harrup Park playing surface, which Carey inspected on a breezy Wednesday morning, boasts a natural wicket square.
“Two different scenarios, first innings to second innings,” Carey said after his Darwin returns of 19 off 43 and 30 off 72 – two of his nine slowest Test innings in which he has faced at least 40 balls.
“Scoring rates were down a little bit just with the two wickets in the centre there. It was quite hard to pierce that field with the square. But they played a really disciplined game of cricket, and we’ll learn a lot from that.
“We’re a proud group of cricketers, and obviously last week didn’t go to plan. We’ve reflected, we’ve talked about it – we always have those conversations in real time as well, (we) didn’t have to wait until after the game to have those conversations.
“If I can say anything, when this team’s been challenged, we always find a way to bounce back in a big way. I’m looking forward to Saturday.”
NRMA Insurance Bangladesh Test series
First Test: Bangladesh won by nine wickets
Second Test: August 22-26, Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay, 10am (local)
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster
Bangladesh squad: Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Mehidy Hasan Miraz (vc), Soumya Sarkar, Shadman Islam, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Mominul Haque Showrab, Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das, Amite Hasan, Jaker Ali Anik, Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Syed Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain Chowdhury, Musfik Hasan, Litton Das, Shoriful Islam
