Australian legend Adam Gilchrist thinks there are “similarities” between his and Alex Carey’s rise and journey to representing their country in Test cricket. With Carey about to make his Test debut with the Ashes opener at the Gabba, Gilchrist spoke about the South Australian wicketkeeper-batter.
For Gilchrist, regarded as arguably the greatest wicketkeeper-batter ever to play the game, the similarity is in how Carey has had an extended chance to get a taste and feel of the international game through white-ball cricket before being picked to play Test matches.
Like Carey, who has featured in 45 ODIs and 38 T20Is before his Test debut, Gilchrist also represented Australia in 76 ODIs ahead of his first outing in whites in November 1999 against Pakistan at the Gabba.
But unlike Gilchrist, Carey is more of a sedate, defensive batter in terms of his approach and hasn’t quite had the luxury of batting in one particular spot in the white-ball arena. Gilchrist, though, believes it wouldn’t be a hurdle.
“I see a lot of similarities between Alex’s journey and mine. When I walked out to bat, Mark Waugh was at the non-striker’s end and I’d opened with him 70-odd times,”
Gilchrist told AAP at Fox Cricket’s season launch.
“Starting my Test career, it wasn’t completely new. There was a really nice settling air of familiarity. That doesn’t guarantee success but it certainly gives you a nice launching pad.”
“Alex deserves the opportunity, he’s worked really hard in that white-ball set-up. His keeping has been really consistent, I think he’ll warm to Test cricket really nicely,”
he added.
Gilchrist is the one who made it a point to communicate with Carey last month and gave him some technical advice to sharpen up his overall game for Test cricket.
Carey, who has pipped Josh Inglis in the race to replace Tim Paine, has made 1,203 runs in ODIs at an average of 36.45 with a strike-rate of 89.70 and 233 runs in T20Is at a strike-rate of 108.37.
More pertinently, the 30-year-old has featured in 45 first-class matches with a decent record as a wicketkeeper-batter, averaging 34.73 for 2,466 runs with five hundreds and 13 half-centuries.
Also read 👉 Carey to replace Paine in Australia’s Ashes squad
