‘Carey has been on our radar for some time’ – Australian selector hints at Tim Paine’s replacement
It is not a pleasant time for you if you are Tim Paine. Under his leadership, the Australian side suffered a humiliating defeat at The Gabba for the first time in over three decades and lost the Border-Gavaskar trophy 1-2 against a spirited Indian side.
Paine did not have a good time in the series against India, both with the bat and with the wicket keeping gloves as well. In the 7 innings that he played, Paine recorded 4 scores less than 30 and aggregated only 204 runs in the series. With the gloves too, Paine was shabby behind the stumps. He dropped a number of catches offered by the Indian batsmen and failed to impress both as captain and player.
And, Australian selector Trevor Hohns has indicated that Paine might not retain his place in the side for long if he does not perform. Hohns added that Alex Carey has been in the radar for a while. The thought process is that he will be drafted into the Test level as he has played a reasonable amount of limited-overs cricket. The Aussie selector added that Carey has improved over the last year and a half, and even indicated that he might be looked at as a long-term option.
“Alex Carey’s been obviously on our radar for some time. He’s played limited-overs cricket for (Australia), and we thought that was the ideal pathway for him to get to Test match level. Alex over the last 12-18 months has got better and better as a player, so I think our thinking is reasonably clear there without actually rubber-stamping it if I can put it that way,” said Hohns in a chat with cricket.com.au.
Looking forward to learning as much as possible from Tim Paine: Alex Carey
However, Hohns also added that Carey has been added to the Test squad only as a back-up keeper since players cannot be flown in the middle of a series due to the protocols. But he also said that Carey might feature in the batting line-up if required.
“We won’t be able to fly players in and out (of South Africa due to COVID-19), so we need to have all bases covered. Alex is there definitely as a back-up wicketkeeper (but) the current form he’s in with the bat doesn’t exclude him from possibly playing a role in the batting line-up if required,” said the Aussie selector.
On the other hand, Carey looks at the situation very modestly. He said that being a part of the Test setup would give him a lot of experience and added that he is looking to learn the tricks of the trade from the current Australian skipper.
“Being a part of this series will give me lots of experience being around Test cricket – I haven’t been in the changerooms for a Test match, so I’m really keen just to soak all that in … learn as much as possible, learn from Tim (Paine),” concluded Carey.
