Australia v New Zealand: Alex Carey, Marnus Labuschagne in spotlight for second Test changes

Another pair of failures in the opening Test against New Zealand has left Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey in danger of copping the axe once again. Daniel Cherny has the latest from the selection table.

To borrow a soccer analogy, Alex Carey has fallen into the relegation zone, but with a game in hand on his main rival.

With his dismissals for 10 and three at the Basin Reserve, twice falling straight into traps set for him in the cover region, the incumbent wicketkeeper’s Test batting average has fallen to 29.92.

With a mark below 30, Carey leaves himself vulnerable, if relatively recent history is anything to go by.

Peter Nevill was omitted with an average of 22.28 after Australia’s Hobart debacle against South Africa in late 2016, while his replacement Matthew Wade made way for Tim Paine after the former’s average slumped to 28.58 at the end of the tour of Bangladesh in 2017.

Alex Carey is in a form slump – but can he drag himself out? Picture: Getty

Carey’s predecessor Tim Paine copped grief for a long time over a lack of first-class centuries, but the Tasmanian’s Test batting average finished at 32.63 when he sensationally pulled out of the side after his sexting scandal was uncovered weeks before the Ashes started in November 2021.

Of course wicketkeeping is not only about runs.

If Carey was keeping as poorly as Wade did at times during his tenure behind the stumps then the heat would be much fiercer, but the South Australian has been next to flawless this season, putting his costly drop of Harry Brook at The Oval last year in the rear window.

The hope was that Carey would also put his batting troubles from the back end of that series behind him.

Tim Paine’s batting was criticised during his tenure in the Test team. Picture: AFP

In the lead-up to this tour, Carey told this masthead that nothing had changed in his approach to batting from his particularly lean run from July to October compared to his more productive stretch from November to February, and that while he understood why people had attributed his tailspin to the Jonny Bairstow incident fallout, it had all been a coincidence.

There is an argument that it would have been more comforting if Carey’s issues could be put down to the Lord’s stumping, because there might have been an easier fix.

The problem with the idea that nothing has changed is that it means this could just be who Carey is: a 30-average batter in Test cricket with a troubling knack for getting out softly.

Marnus Labuschagne is another Australian batsman in desperate need of runs. Picture: Getty

While Marnus Labuschagne is underperforming at No.3, captain Pat Cummins and coach Andrew McDonald have made it clear that there is no real threat to his position heading into the next summer’s marquee series against India, even after Labuschagne’s average fell below 50 with scores of one and two at the Basin.

“I don’t think there’s any great concern from our point of view,” McDonald said.

“Can he perform better? No doubt about that. Does he know that he knows that? Is he working on it? Yes. I said this last week.

“I said it a couple of weeks ago as well, but over time, there’s going to be some ebbs and flows in your career.

“And I thought in the second innings, and this is really hard to sort of quantify but I thought the intent, the energy he brought to the crease, and it was only two runs, I don’t want to get carried away with two runs but that’s what we see when he’s at his best.”

New Zealand's Tim Southee (C) celebrates another cheap dismissal of Labuschagne. Picture: Getty

One of the key advantages Labuschagne has is that there is no clear sense of a better option than him at No.3.

Such an assertion cannot be made with great conviction about Carey after Josh Inglis’ outstanding return to red-ball cricket for Western Australia this week.

Inglis plundered 136 not out to rescue his side from 4-58 against a Queensland attack featuring Xavier Bartlett, Mark Steketee and Mitchell Swepson.

Inglis hasn’t played a lot of first-class cricket in recent years given the amount of touring he’s done with the Australian side, but it is easy to forget that there was a push for him to be picked ahead of Carey when Paine’s spot suddenly became available.

Josh Inglis has been in the runs for Western Australia. Picture: Getty

Moreover, national selectors have already shown a preparedness to discard Carey in favour of Inglis, albeit in one-day cricket.

Just a week before Carey was dropped early in the World Cup, McDonald had been definitive that Carey remained the first-choice gloveman.

Asked about Carey’s offerings in Wellington, McDonald was eyebrow-raisingly equivocal.

“We’re not going to hang him on one innings or two winnings over a period of time. We’ll see how that plays out,” the coach said.

This is not one or two innings though. It’s 31 Tests over 27 months across six countries.

Australia has retained the trans-Tasman Trophy, and now has just one more Test until late November.

Carey has left himself in danger, but he will play in Christchurch and can shore up his position with runs at Hagley Oval.

Another underwhelming showing though, and he will be subjected to a nine-month referendum on whether he is the best man for the gloves.

Originally published as Australia v New Zealand: Alex Carey, Marnus Labuschagne in spotlight for second Test changes