Cricket: Alex Carey will captain Australia against the West Indies after injury to Aaron Finch

An injury to Australian white-ball captain Aaron Finch in the West Indies has opened the door for another captain.

Alex Carey will take over from Aron Finch as captain. Picture. Phil Hillyard

Alex Carey started a walk around Kensington Oval in Barbados with Australian coach Justin Langer on Monday as one-day vice-captain and finished it as the 26th captain of the 50-over team.

A knee injury to skipper Aaron Finch has sidelined him for Wednesday’s opening ODI clash with the West Indies and thrust Carey in to the top job for at least one match, and maybe more.

South Australian Carey, 29, had to wait a few hours before he could share the “exciting” news with loved ones at home and declared it “one of the greatest privileges in sport”.

“I caught up with JL yesterday, did a lap with him and he gave me the bad news about Finchy and the good news about myself,” Carey said from Barbados.

“That was yesterday afternoon, then when everyone started waking up in Australia I could get on the phone and let them know. It was exciting to let the family know back home.

“To captain Australia is one of the greatest privileges in sport and an honour I am extremely thankful to receive.”

Carey and Pat Cummins were joint vice-captains of the white ball sides for three years until the fast bowler assumed the role as a stand-alone last August.

With Cummins not on this tour, Carey, who has played 42 ODIs, resumed his role as second in charge and, now, is in charge.

Carey said losing the vice-captaincy never changed the way he approached his game, or his role, which since then has included stints leading the Adelaide Strikers in the BBL, South Australia in the Sheffield Shield and Australia A against India.

“When I was given the news (about losing the vice-captaincy) it was made really clear how I was held in the group,” Carey said.

“My cricket didn’t change, my mentality didn’t change. It was a great opportunity the vice-captaincy when I did have it.

“I’ve had lots of opportunities in the last 24 months as captain. If you talk about preparation, those opportunities are great for my development.

“Playing more games at this level also gives you a greater understand of what it takes to win matches. I will continue to learn. I feel really confident with who I have alongside me.”

Those captaincy experiences haven’t all been smooth sailing.

Legendary Australian skipper Allan Border lashed the performance of Carey’s team in the Australia A game as “disgrace” and not up to the standard of Australian cricket as the faded out late in the two-day game.

Carey picked up the phone the very next day and called Border to talk it through.

A big congrats to Alex Carey who will become the 26th man to captain Australia in ODI cricket tomorrow!

Aaron Finch has been ruled out of the #WIvAUS series opener with a knee injury. pic.twitter.com/7q2AVGeazk

— Cricket Australia (@CricketAus) July 19, 2021

“I guess my take on that is there are a lot of really great leaders around the country who still care about cricket, for him to answer my call and have a chat to me bout what he saw, that was a great learning curve for me,” he said.

“I saw what he said, I didn’t take it too much to heart, and more of an opportunity to learn.

“The opportunities I have had to captain teams in the past two years will hopefully help me lead this team.”

Carey said he felt comfortable with experienced bowlers including Mitch Star and Josh Hazlewood, as well as Moises Henriques on the park with him.

The line-up could yet include some fresh faces with Josh Philippe in line to replace Finch at the top of the order.

Langer said Carey had been a “fantastic leader” since he became a mainstay of the limited overs squad.

“For a long period of time Alex has shown an extremely high level of professionalism and discipline as a fantastic leader within this group,” Langer said.

“The injury to Finchy gives Alex the opportunity of his first experience as captain. I have no doubt he will do a fantastic job with the support of the other senior players.”

Australia will name Carey’s vice-captain and its final team at the coin toss.

Originally published as Cricket: Alex Carey will captain Australia against the West Indies after injury to Aaron Finch