Australia’s cold Alex Carey call costs Josh Inglis $2000 and two catches against West Indies

Centrally contracted with a lucrative IPL deal to boot, Josh Inglis is hardly sweating over missing out on $2000, but his role in Australia’s obliteration of the West Indies will never be a part of the record books.

Australia’s decision not to formally substitute Alex Carey out of the Sabina Park Test cost Josh Inglis a couple of catches and just shy of $2000.

Carey was diagnosed with delayed concussion after being struck on the helmet by an Alzarri Joseph bouncer late on day two of the third Test. The Aussie gloveman kept batting at the time but was gone for a duck moments later.

The following day, Australian team management confirmed that Carey would be substituted out of the game for the West Indies’ second innings.

Alex Carey suffered a concusion after being struck by a bouncer on day two. Picture: Randy Brooks/AFP

Josh Inglis (2R) stepped in as keeper in the fourth innings. Picture: Randy Brooks/AFP

But rather than invoke the ICC’s concussion replacement provisions which would have allowed for spare wicketkeeper Inglis to be fully subbed into the game, the Aussies instead opted to use Inglis as an ordinary substitute fielder, as is routine in international cricket.

From a practical perspective it didn’t really matter given Carey had already batted twice in the game.

But it meant that the two catches Inglis took during Australia’s dismantling of the West Indies on day three will not count towards his official catch tally in Test cricket.

His appearance also doesn’t count as a Test cap, meaning he is still deemed to have played three Tests, not four.

And the call denied Inglis the chance to earn a match fee. Under the current Australian cricket pay deal, players subbed into a Test under the concussion rules are entitled to a pro rata match fee depending on when they enter the game.

Had he been officially subbed into the match with three days remaining in the game, Inglis would have been entitled to an extra $1958.40 for less than 15 overs behind the stumps, a relatively minor sum for a centrally contracted cricketer who played in the Indian Premier League this year.

Until 2017, Inglis would not have been able to don the gloves from outside the initial XI, but a rule change from the Marylebone Cricket Club meant that Inglis was able to play as a sub keeper just like any other sub fielder.

Before the rule change, non-specialist wicketkeepers would have to fill in on occasion, like David Warner did for Brad Haddin against Pakistan in 2014.

Concussion substitutes came into international cricket in 2019, with Marnus Labuschagne famously replacing a concussed Steve Smith during the Lord’s Ashes Test of that year.

Carey was at the ground on day three and appeared otherwise well. He is not part of Australia’s Twenty20 squad so is not expected to miss any further cricket because of the concussion.

The Test-only players and some of the T20 specialists crossed over in Kingston on day three of the match, with Aaron Hardie, Mitch Marsh and Tim David among those to have touched down ahead of the five-match series against the Windies that begins in Jamaica on Monday morning (AEST). The series is the first of a run in T20 engagements for the Aussies ahead of a World Cup in India and Sri Lanka early next year.

Originally published as Australia’s cold Alex Carey call costs Josh Inglis $2000 and two catches against West Indies