Australia’s wicketkeeper-batter collected his third Player of the Match award in his last 11 Tests to underscore his importance to the side
Andrew McGlashan06-Jul-2025It’s been a big few weeks for wicketkeeper-batters. At Edgbaston over the last few days, Jamie Smith has plundered 272 runs in England’s losing cause against India. In the first Test of that series, Rishabh Pant made two thrilling centuries. Rather more off Broadway in Bulawayo, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, who can take the gloves even though he wasn’t on this occasion against Zimbabwe, rattled up a century on Test debut.Meanwhile, over in the Caribbean, Alex Carey has been a central figure in two Australia victories. In Grenada, he walked away with the Player of the Match award for the third time in Test cricket after making 93 runs across two innings in another relatively low-scoring contest while also having to combat a pitch with variable bounce behind the stumps.Those three match awards have all come in the last 16 months, starting with Christchurch against New Zealand after his series-clinching unbeaten 98. Previously, there had been a humorous suggestion that falling in a hotel pool in Karachi on the 2022 tour of Pakistan was a turning point given the success he had in the months that followed.Related
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His form slipped during the 2023 Ashes – he has since conceded that the fallout of the Jonny Bairstow stumping at Lord’s affected him more than he first admitted – but he is now in a golden spot in his career. In 2025, he is averaging 62.00 in first-class cricket and 56.87 in Tests, which included his career-best 156 in Sri Lanka that brought the second Player-of-the-Match accolade, while also shining in white-ball cricket.Pat Cummins believed Carey had a strong case to be Player of the Match in Barbados last week, too, where he made a vital 65 in the second innings, but was edged out by the equally deserving Travis Head. If you are making your mark as a batter in this series, you are playing well.”The wickets have been challenging,” Carey said at the presentation. “They have been a lot of fun to play on. Contributing to your team is what you always want to do. To be able to do that and win a series for Australia is fantastic.”There have been a few blips in recent weeks, such as the missed reverse sweep against Keshav Maharaj in the World Test Championship final at Lord’s, which sparked an Australia collapse, and a couple of dropped catches. One came against South Africa and another in the first innings in Barbados. But his take to remove Shai Hope in the second innings of that game was a reminder of the wicketkeeper he has become and it’s his usually well-calculated aggression that is defining his batting.
“It’s a really tricky period to walk into bat at five, six, seven. The game’s normally in the balance. Time and time again he, along with a couple of others seem to take the game away from the opposition. He’s keeping really well also. He just always seems to contribute”Pat Cummins on Alex Carey
On the first day in Grenada, he walked in at 110 for 5 with the game in the balance. He rode his luck at times but came away with 63 off 81 balls. “Bowling to him as well [in the nets], he’s just looking really sharp and [is] really hard to bowl to,” Cummins said. “A couple of tours last year in white-ball cricket he really impressed and everyone was saying how well he was looking and feeling. He carried that on to the start of the Shield season… and into international cricket. He’s just a guy that knows his game really well.”The surge in batting form has coincided with a small technical tweak, which he implemented last winter, where he now stands with his hands higher as he prepares to face. “I won’t say it will last forever, but at the moment it feels quite good in the stance,” Carey said before the second Test.He also expanded on his mindset when he walks to the crease, which revolves around trying to remove the scoreboard from his thoughts. The crispness and confidence of his early stroke-play has been a feature of this series.”I feel like if I’m just focusing on what’s coming down at me, then that’s probably the place I need to be,” he said. “If I’m focusing on the situation of the game, then you can be a little bit distracted. I know some guys thrive on what’s going on, what’s the time, how many balls are bowled, what’s our position.Alex Carey didn’t pass up many scoring opportunities early on•Associated Press”I do understand the game situation and understand when I do go out to bat what is required, but when the bowler is running in, I’m just trying to react to the ball.”Carey has not missed a Test since his hasty debut for the start of the 2021-22 Ashes after Tim Paine resigned shortly before the series. Now, with 41 caps to his name, he is a fulcrum of the side. His standing within the team was emphasised when Nathan Lyon handed him the team song duties early in this series.”He’s about four or five years into his Test career [and] I think in the last year or so it’s probably been his most prolific,” Cummins said. “He looks really settled. Any opposition that has a No. 7 – it’s normally a keeper – [who] walks in and you know they’re in good form, they can move the game quickly, they’re some of the scariest players. I feel really lucky that we’ve got Kez in our side that does that.”It’s a really tricky period to walk into bat at five, six, seven. The game’s normally in the balance. Time and time again he, along with a couple of others seem to take the game away from the opposition. He’s keeping really well also. He just always seems to contribute.”
