Carey and Lords continue their eventful pairing as keeper drops sitter and gets dismissed off an ill-timed switch hit.
Alex Carey and Lords go way back, and have a rather unusual penchant of serving something eventful.
It was an exciting Test cricket day for Carey at Lord’s the day before. This one versus South Africa was no exception.
He was in the spotlight after missing a reverse sweep against Keshav Maharaj and then giving away a regulation edge that Wiaan Mulder had given him. The significance of the two instances may have diminished, though, due to Australia’s impressive finish, which put them ahead of the game despite being limited to 212.
Throughout his career, Carey has frequently used the reverse sweep. His wife, Eloise, expressed her opinion on the matter a few years ago.
“My wife is the harshest critic of the reverse. She says, ‘don’t play the bloody reverse sweep, not again’,” Carey joked in 2022 when it was a focal point of a tour of Sri Lanka. “But I just politely tell her, ‘you haven’t played the game; yes, you’re going to get out to reverse sweeps and sweeps… but it can also produce some success as well’.”
It will be questioned why he chose to play it on the first day at Lord’s. Although circumstances at Lord’s were undoubtedly not Galle, he made terrific use of it earlier this year in Sri Lanka. He was at 192 for 5, and if he and Beau Webster could continue under clear skies, they may reach 300. However, that quickly changed to a lower-order collapse of 5 for 20 from 34 balls.
However, Carey, like many contemporary players, views the gap in the field as just another one of his strokes. Even though it didn’t work out, he might still do it again if he thinks the time is right.
There is a lot of credit in the bank since Carey has been having a fantastic run throughout formats. His dropped catch may have been the more unexpected misstep because he has also been excellent behind the wickets.
When Mulder edged a drive against Mitchell Starc in the fifth over of South Africa’s innings, Carey simply needed to move slightly to his right for the ball to explode through his gloves. In anticipation of the wicket, Starc had begun to celebrate but had to quickly stop.
“It’s a tricky place to catch behind the wicket sometimes when the ball does that. He’s been keeping so well the last two years. We’re all allowed to drop one every now and again.” Steve Smith defended his keeper.