Carey gets a kick out of Test cricket

Alex Carey was an apt third-day hero in what has become the de facto Shane Warne memorial Boxing Day Test.

Carey, like Warne, became a cricketer after being rejected for an AFL career. At St Kilda, Warne was said to be skilful, but too slow. Carey in his time was let down more gently. On the eve of Greater Western Sydney’s first season, he was told that he had all the requisite craft, but lacked leg speed.

Alex Carey celebrates his first Test century for Australia.Credit:Getty Images

As a Queenslander wryly noted on Wednesday, if each had had another yard of pace, he might never have heard of either. Such is the patchwork that is the Australian sporting landscape. On Boxing Day, a NSW official mused that if the AFL was a little bigger in Sydney, ruckman-sized Mitch Starc and Josh Hazlewood might have never been seen in baggy greens.

Warne’s career as an accidental cricketer worked out so well that he now has an MCG grandstand and Australian Test trophy named for him, not to mention his country’s undying affection.

Carey’s will never reach Warne’s stratospheric heights, but his career is progressing as smoothly as his batting. Wednesday’s maiden Test century felt like a natural next step, which is no small thing considering that he has been a Test player for barely a year and his day job is as the wicketkeeper. All wicketkeepers are expected to be able to bat now, but always with endorsed licences not available to non-keepers.

In the multi-format way of things now, Carey was already a wholesome and fully formed figure in the consciousness of the cricket world before he was capped.

Alex Carey reverse sweeps Keshav Maharaj on his way to a century.Credit:Getty Images

In his first Test, he solidified his image by volunteering to open the second innings in place of an injured David Warner. Since, he has played a series of what may be called handy innings for Australia, thinking always to meet the team’s immediate need. He’d gotten as far as 93 in Karachi earlier this year.

He began this innings on sound but tricky footings. Australia were 3-363 when he came in and 3-386 when he resumed on Wednesday morning, but the second new ball was still shiny, the sky overcast and Anrich Nortje was again sending down thunderbolts, smashing the stumps of Travis Head and the double centurion Warner with consecutive balls.

Unruffled, Carey began to construct a classic Test innings. He is well-balanced at the crease – in footy terms, you would say he has skills on both sides – which means can play early and late, all around the wicket. The three consecutive fours from Lungi Ngidi that took him to 50 were his innings in miniature. The first was a thumping drive on the rise, the second a pull and the third a textbook off-drive. He is nothing if not easy on the eye. You could watch him for a hobby.

Carey’s repertoire is wide because of his T20 experience, which means he always has at hand a release shot so is rarely tied down. He used reverse sweeps to control spinner Keshav Maharaj. Nortje tested him with a bouncer, which he top-edged for four. Far from chastened, when Nortje bounced him again next ball, he upper cut him for another boundary.

Alex Carey pulls for another boundary.Credit:Getty Images

Cameron Green fell in alongside Carey. Batting with a broken finger, he was necessarily more restricted than Carey, but perfect as a foil. Green also has footy pedigree, playing in WA’s under-16 team before opting for cricket. He is another who might have gotten away.

He and Carey have grown close in the Australian team, and when Carey at last slapped Marco Jansen through covers to go to 100, it was Green at the non-striker’s end who first raised his arms in triumph. Carey waited, absorbing the moment. This first time won’t come again.

In an Australian batting order twice reshuffled because of retired hurts, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon were already out before Carey and Green put on 117 for the eighth wicket as Australia stretched their lead to 386. Only then did they declare.

Starc also batted briefly, then opened the bowling with a bloodied hand, which means South Africa were played out of the match partly by two men already confirmed as too injured to play the next. That cannot be good for a team’s self-esteem.

Pat Cummins celebrates dismissing captaincy counterpart Dean Elgar.Credit:Getty Images

It was merciless of Australia, playing as if down to their last man, and prompted some disgruntlement. It is a curious thing about cricket fans that they cannot wait for the Test match to come, then barrack for it to pass. This is Test cricket; it is supposed to take as long as it takes.

Besides, with tours of India and England and a probable Test championship final rushing towards Australia next year, they need to practise their ruthlessness.

It worked. As could only befall the captain of a team in South Africa’s besieged state, in the gathering gloom captain Dean Elgar promptly nudged a leg-side catch from Cummins to Carey, adding a duck to previous scores of 3, 2 and 26. The ball came to Carey on an awkward trajectory, but as they say in that other game, he has good hands.

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