NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey’s neat glovework in the third test against India has earned him praise from coach Andrew McDonald and the 31-year-old wants to be equally effective with the bat in the ongoing series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
McDonald said Carey put on “an absolute clinic” in Nagpur, where Australia triumphed by nine wickets to bounce back after back-to-back defeats in Nagpur and Delhi.
Carey conceded three byes in the match and stumped India captain Rohit Sharma, giving, McDonald believes, Australia “control of the game”.
The 31-year-old said he spoke to several former Australia stumpers before arriving in India.
“I speak to guys regularly who’ve played for Australia in terms of (Brad) Haddin and (Adam) Gilchrist and Ian Healy’s always in the corner there,” Carey told reporters on Sunday.
“I think our training wickets have been really difficult as well so it’s been nice to actually stand in a training wicket and keep to our bowlers.
“You don’t always do that in Australia, the nets are a bit shorter, and you probably go about your business more standing back.”
The depth of India’s batting has proved decisive in the first two matches of the series, while Australia accommodated rookie spinners Todd Murphy and Matt Kuhnemann in their tail.
Australia’s lower order has not contributed much in the series so far and Carey’s plot to sweep his way out of trouble has not worked so far either.
“We know that we haven’t given enough at the tail there,” Carey said.
“We also understand that India’s batting line-up’s very, very strong.
“We’ll have those conversations about how we can navigate and try to get 10-15 runs each more.”
The fourth and final test begins in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; Editing by Tom Hogue)
