‘Best in the world’: Stunning praise for Alex Carey after after wicketkeeping masterclass at the Gabba in second Test
Alex Carey efforts standing up to the stumps was hailed as a ‘masterclass’ by one of Australia’s best wicketkeepers, confirming his place as the best gloveman in the world.
Alex Carey has been rated the best wicketkeeper in world cricket as his game-changing ability to stand up to the quicks behind the stumps all but kept the Ashes in Australian hands.
Record-breaking gloveman Ian Healy said Carey was “clearly” the world’s best, with his efforts close to the stumps reminding him of storeyed Queensland great Don Tallon, a member of the Invincibles once rated the “Bradman of keepers”.
“Don Tallon has the reputation of being really low behind the stumps to the mediums as well as spinners, but then superior speed, unbelievable speed, to pounce on something and get a stumping,” Healy said.
“So that’s where I took it back to, it looks to me like high-quality old fashioned stuff with a modern look.”
But throwing back to a style reminiscent of a man who played the last of his 21 Tests in 1953 was absolutely no slight on Carey, whose close work was to men bowling at more than 130km/h.
“It’s very hard and to do it for long periods, you have to be so sharp for so long,” Healy said.
“You’re putting your body on the line, you’re putting every finger at risk. You can get a bad hit to the collarbone.
“The helmets are better these days, so your head and your teeth and your eyes are all protected ... But very, very impressive.”
Carey’s efforts were not just behind the stumps but with the bat, adding a neat half century (63 off 69 balls) in the first innings to help the Aussies build a match-winning lead.
But it was his glovework that was supreme, with Healy saying it may make ‘keepers coming through have to re-evaluate their skillset.
“I think he’s clearly the best in the world, probably even before this (Test).
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“To have such long periods (standing up) to quite fast bowling on a pitch that looks as if something might happen - but didn’t a whole lot of times - clearly cements him as the best,” Healy said, noting the time Carey would have had to react to most balls would have been less than half a second.
“To be able to be effective with it as long as he was, you know, he hardly misgloved any of them.
“He didn’t go rushing off down the leg side. He still watched the ball and had the ball only (in his thoughts) and knew he had enough time to get there ... or take that extra bounce.
“So it might be a new skillset that’s going to be needed.”
Even before his match-defining dismissal of Ben Stokes, taking a catch standing up to Michael Neser, commentators had been raving about Carey’s stunning form with both bat and ball.
As former ‘keeper Adam Gilchrist praised Carey for putting on a “masterclass”, fellow Kayo commentator David Warner said he deserved to be rated the best in the world.
“For the keeper behind the stumps to react like that (positively to the variable bounce) is incredible,” Warner said.
“His last 12 months,18 months, has been exceptional with bat and gloves.
“He’s probably the best keeper in the world at the moment. He’s been exceptional.”
And the accolades kept coming after Carey’s reflex catch of Stokes, just as the England captain threatened to give his side a sniff of remaining in the contest with a half century.
“The brilliance of the wicketkeeper to come up to the stumps so often in this Test match has kept the England batters back in their crease,” Michael Vaughan said.
“Michael Neser’s bowling 130 kilometres an hour.
“If the keeper’s back, the batter comes out of the crease and it’s a lot (easier to attack the bowling).”
The selection of Queensland seamer Neser, a man who knows the Gabba pitch and the pink ball well, was pilloried in some sections, especially with Nathan Lyon left out.
Bowling at just over 130km/h, Neser can come in for punishment if not swinging the ball, especially by batsmen keen to venture outside their crease and take the lbw option out of play.
But with Carey standing up to him, and Scott Boland at times, the batters had to play much more conservatively, with Neser eventually finishing with a career-best haul of 5-42 in a game-changing stint.
“That’s brilliant from Carey, the extra bounce, the feather from the outside edge,” Vaughan said of the Stokes catch.
“Brilliant from Neser and then Alex Carey.
“Full credit to the Australian selectors, go back to the start of the game, they picked Michael Neser, he’s got (five).”
Neser paid tribute to Carey, and Steve Smith, who took a stunning catch to dismiss the dogged Will Jacks for 41, breaking a 96-run partnership with Stokes.
“That wouldn’t be possible without Kez (Carey), and what Steve did there at the end was special,” Neser said.
“I didn’t even have to ask Kez to come up, he just does it ... to have a keeper like that is great.”
Originally published as ‘Best in the world’: Stunning praise for Alex Carey after after wicketkeeping masterclass at the Gabba in second Test
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