Mike Atherton: Alex Carey’s stumping of Jonny Bairstow showed the type of game awareness England lacks

Mike Atherton says Alex Carey’s success has exposed a major issue with England’s talent pathways and reveals his true feelings about the controversial Jonny Bairstow stumping.

When Alex Carey turned and sprinted almost half the length of the Gabba, before flinging himself full length to take a superlative diving catch off Gus Atkinson, beating Marnus Labuschagne to it by a short head, he might have reflected with some satisfaction on his pace to the ball. It was, after all, his lack of speed that had shattered his boyhood dream of becoming an Australian rules footballer.

Carey was obsessed by AFL and was twice rejected when on the cusp of a professional career. The first time was in his home state of South Australia, when he failed to secure a place in the draft by not triumphing in a winner-takes-all 400m race, and then two years later, in West Sydney, when he was told that his speed was not up to the mark. Cricket was a consolation, but not before he had experienced the mundanity of working in a call centre, and as a client service officer in a financial services firm, to help pay the bills.

READ MORE: WHERE DOES ALEX CAREY RANK IN AUSTRALIA’S GREATEST KEEPERS?

The Australian way is to make athletes earn their stripes and some have varied hinterlands as a result. Occasionally, such as when Sam Konstas was over-promoted to the top of the order too soon, they move away from this tried-and-tested tradition, but by and large the system works because it rewards graft and success. Carey has experienced failure, has seen the other side of professional sport, and has had to strive hard to make the grade.

Some recent England players have been gifted a lot very quickly, as the selectors have fast-tracked those with favourable attributes and high ceilings. One understands what they are looking for – which is sometimes not to be found in county cricket – but one of the dangers of a system which is not performance-led is the potential for a sense of entitlement among some and resentment among others.

Carey’s story of striving and of hard-earned success is typical of Australian cricket. This was made clear to him by Adam Gilchrist, who presented Carey with a debut Baggy Green, as he continues a fine tradition of Australian wicketkeepers charged with upholding the highest standards in the field. Before that cap presentation, Gilchrist gave Carey a dossier with information on every one of the country’s previous 33 Test incumbents to the role.

Gilchrist’s speech can be seen online – and I’d encourage anyone to listen to it. “These,” he said, pointing to the cap, “are not given away lightly; a good deal of value is placed on this but not a for a moment is there a sense of entitlement that comes with it. It doesn’t make you any more special than anyone else in society but if you play with honesty, integrity and commitment, people will ride with you and when the lows come they will pick you up and carry you.”

Forty-five Tests into his career, Carey has had his ups and downs but enjoyed what may have been his crowning moment as a wicketkeeper at the Gabba. His work up to the stumps to the seamers was of the highest class – brave, technically sound and impactful – of which his catch to dismiss Ben Stokes in the second innings was the highlight. Making the incredibly difficult look mundane is the sign of a craftsman at the top of his game, and Carey barely put a foot wrong throughout.

When he stumped Jonny Bairstow at Lord’s in 2023, after Bairstow had dozily wandered out of his ground, Stuart Broad taunted him by saying it was all he would be remembered for. But that has proved to be wide of the mark and, in any event, it showed a cricketer with a sharp sense of game awareness, nous and instinct, something England could do with a little more of now. Although he was affected by the fall-out, he has also said that he would do exactly the same thing again if given the chance. Quite right, too.

Alex Carey takes a screamer

That match awareness was in evidence again, standing up to the stumps to the pace bowlers, in Brisbane. He complemented the attack by restricting the ability of the England batsmen to get down the pitch and Harry Brook highlighted the danger of leaving the crease, when he was nearly stumped down the leg side in the first innings, attempting a scoop. After that, no one ventured out of their ground when Carey was at close combat. He inspired a superlative all-round fielding performance, with Josh Inglis’s run-out of Stokes, Steve Smith’s slip catch to dismiss Will Jacks and Labuschagne’s diving one-hander to end England’s first innings the other stand-out moments.

All in contrast with England, of course, who shelled five chances and for whom Jamie Smith endured a difficult match behind the stumps, and was subject to jeers from the crowd from the moment he put down Travis Head early in the first innings through to the end of the game.

Intensity and competency in the field have long been a feature of Australian teams. Natural athleticism as a result of an outdoor lifestyle, hot weather, big grounds and flat wickets which put a premium on taking every chance that presents, are the principal reasons for this, as is the focus on the fundamentals of technique – a strong feature of Australian cricket.

I got an insight into how sound technique is drilled into young cricketers here when Bob Simpson, the former Australian captain, came to coach Lancashire in the late 1990s. Simpson was regarded as among the best of slip fielders during his career, and was a hard taskmaster, but first he’d make sure the fundamentals were solid – weight on the inside of the knees, relaxed posture – and then it was hundreds of catches a day – day after day. “Enjoy the work!” he would roar.

Thus did Simpson raise standards as Australia’s first professional coach in the mid-1980s, after they had fallen somewhat following the Kerry Packer split. Since then, generally, Australian teams have out-fielded their counterparts. The best fielding team I have seen? That would have been Australia in the mid 2000s, when Mike Young, a baseball coach, helped take catching, ground fielding, and throwing to another level.

At the start of this tour, Steve Waugh said: “I think the best fielding side will win the Ashes this year.” It is often the case. When England won here under Andrew Strauss in 2010-11, it was not only the greed of their batsmen and the discipline of their bowlers that put Australia in the shade, it was the sharpness of their out-cricket, too.

Matt Prior took 23 catches to Haddin’s eight in that series; England had 43 outfield catches all told to Australia’s 25, and four more run-outs. Scyld Berry, who has watched more than 500 Tests, thought it was “the best that England had fielded, at least since the 1970s” when David Gower and Derek Randall put the squeeze on in the covers – although even in this series, England dropped 14 catches to Australia’s ten. “Good housekeeping,” he called it – one more area in which England need to sharpen up now.

Originally published as Mike Atherton: Alex Carey’s stumping of Jonny Bairstow showed the type of game awareness England lacks