The Ashes 2017-18: South Australia keeper Alex Carey enters selection fray as Matthew Wade’s star dims

A ROOKIE wicketkeeper is looming large as one of Australia’s great Ashes bolters as selectors consider a landmark change behind the stumps.

Usman Khawaja and Alex Carey could both be part of the first Ashes Test team.

ROOKIE wicketkeeper Alex Carey is looming large as one of Australia’s great Ashes bolters as selectors consider a landmark change behind the stumps.

The gloves will be off to start the Sheffield Shield season after Matthew Wade failed to score the runs he so desperately needed to lock down his position in Bangladesh.

Alex Carey has impressed in just 18 first-class matches.

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Unheralded South Australian Carey leads a list of potential candidates to replace him as keeper despite playing only 18 first-class matches.

Batting all-rounder Hilton Cartwright is in the box seat to retain his place in the middle order for the Ashes, however the crucial No. 6 position is wide open, with Glenn Maxwell not out of the running and the door also open for out-and-out batters like Travis Head, Kurtis Patterson or Joe Burns to score big early-season runs and put their name up in lights.

Carey is considered the best up and coming gloveman in the country and was to keep wicket on the Australia A tour of South Africa in July only to be robbed of his opportunity when the important trip was cancelled due to the pay war.

Wicketkeeper contenders

Matthew Wade

On many levels, Australia is reluctant to part ways with Wade given such a huge investment was made in him to replace Peter Nevill last summer. Steve Smith likes his energy around the team and on-field chat, while coach Darren Lehmann praised his wicketkeeping performance in the second Test in Chittagong where he pulled off three stumpings and a nice catch standing up to the spinners. However, the bottom line is Wade was brought in to add more backbone with the bat and he has averaged 20 in his past 10 Tests. Australia have spelt out in no uncertain terms that Wade is gone if he can’t produce runs.

Alex Carey

Not a household name by any stretch, but in cricket circles the whispers have been growing louder about the Redbacks’ star for some time. Carey was deemed good enough to oust renowned gloveman Tim Ludeman from behind the stumps at South Australia and has more than justified that big call ever since. It’s a blight on the game that the pay war has so badly affected Ashes preparations and Carey specifically. Carey should have had a shot on the Australia A tour to put his name forward on similar pitches in South Africa, but the tour was called off all for a fight over money. The equation remains pretty simple though for Carey: the position is his for the taking if he can make a bulldozing start to the Shield season.

Peter Handscomb

It’s understood the Victorian will keep for the Bushrangers in the domestic one-day Cup and if selectors are seriously eyeing a switch for him to behind the stumps, he may take the gloves to start the Sheffield Shield season as well. Wayne Phillips is the classic example in Australian cricket of a batsman who had his run-scoring career hugely restricted by a move to keeping. In Chittagong Handscomb once again showed what a key middle-order batsman he is for Australia. However, the option is on the table. Selectors don’t see Handscomb as a part-timer at all and believe he could be the real deal as a wicketkeeper.

Peter Nevill

There is no denying the fact that Nevill was a scapegoat when axed last summer. If the top order batsmen were doing their job, he wouldn’t have come under such serious heat. After scoring 60 in his final Test, Nevill went back to Shield cricket and peeled off the runs at will, including a double hundred for NSW. However, what’s done is done and to bring Nevill back now would be a major turnaround from selectors. That said, if Nevill starts this Shield season as well as he finished the last, how can his claims be ignored?

The 26-year-old is yet to score a Shield hundred, but selectors believe he’s an outstanding batsman and if he can produce runs under pressure to start the domestic season he will be knocking the door down for a shock Test debut at the Gabba.

It’s not over yet for Wade though and just like Carey or any other keeper, he can win Ashes selection through sheer weight of runs in the Shield for his new side Tasmania.

However, he now finds himself in the middle of a battlefield after admitting to teammates he needed more runs to justify his place.

No.6 contenders

Hilton Cartwright

Hasn’t set the world on fire in his two Tests, but hasn’t totally disappointed either. Plenty of good judges around state cricket believe the West Australian has what it takes to bat in the top four for his country. Selectors clearly like Cartwright and their instincts have been right on Matt Renshaw. Cartwright is nowhere near a genuine all-rounder and his bowling is barely passable at Test level. But with no other all-rounders jumping out of the box with Mitchell Marsh to start the summer not bowling, at least Cartwright is capable of offering Steve Smith a few overs here and there to take pressure off the front-liners.

Glenn Maxwell

Made some nice contributions in Bangladesh, but will it be enough to save him back home in bouncier conditions? On the strength of being the incumbent, Maxwell can make the selectors’ decision for them by stepping up for Victoria to start the Shield season. A big hundred or two would make him very difficult to drop. However, selectors need convincing that Maxwell can thrive when the ball is bouncing around and also that his off-spin can still be handy on Australian decks. Maxwell’s hundred in Ranchi showed he’s up to Test cricket, but consistency is the key and he must quickly find another level.

Kurtis Patterson

Appeared all but certain to make his Test debut last summer before Nic Maddinson jumped him in the queue at the very last moment. Didn’t turn enough 50s into 100s and fell away the longer the summer went – but Patterson is well on the radar after being selected for Australia A.

Travis Head

Another batsman selected on the canned Australia A tour, proof that Head is on the cusp of getting a crack. Steve Smith loves his off-spin in one-day cricket and he is a player that seems like he’s only one good domestic season away from breaking into the Test side.

Joe Burns

It would seem Burns’ cards are marked as an opener, but could the Queenslander work lower down the order at No.6? With few batsmen around the country jumping out of the box, Burns is a 28-year-old with three Test centuries to his name and a solid Test average of 37.95

Peter Handscomb is another candidate to keep, although selectors would be hugely reluctant to risk his development as a top class batsman by burdening him with the added responsibility of the gloves.

Test legend Ian Healy has declared Peter Nevill should be the only keeper considered if Wade is axed, adamant the Ashes is no time to be blooding a rookie.

Possible Ashes XI

David Warner, Matt Renshaw, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith (capt), Peter Handscomb, Hilton Cartwright, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon