"I speak to guys regularly who’ve played for Australia in terms of Haddin and Gilchrist" - Alex Carey on his glovework in India
Australian keeper-batter Alex Carey has opened up on his magnificent glovework on challenging pitches during the ongoing Test series in India. The South Australian said that he has been regularly speaking to the likes of Brad Haddin, Ian Healy and Adam Gilchrist to stay in the correct mindset.
Carey has indeed been sensational behind the stumps despite playing red-ball cricket in India for the first time, keeping up to three spinners, affecting seven dismissals in three innings. The 31-year-old's instinct to take reviews has also helped Australia multiple times at crucial junctures.
Alex Carey now whipping the bails off every time he gets a chance. Steve Smith appealing directly to the square-leg umpire. Quite clearly looking to get the umpire to review the stumping so that a DRS call is not wasted. Anyway the edge will be checked also.
#INDvAUS
Speaking to reporters, Carey reflected that speaking to former Australian greats has helped his glovework, and he also credited former coach Tim Nielsen for the same. As quoted by The Age, Carey said:
"I speak to guys regularly who’ve played for Australia in terms of Haddin and Gilchrist and Ian Healy’s always in the corner there. Tim Nielsen at South Australia is a guy I’ve worked with for a number of years, so bounce things off him.
"Then when you land over here, you get a bit of a feel. As a batting group, we know it’s going to be difficult. We know that the eight-degree ball might not get the wicket, it might be the one that doesn’t spin. In Nagpur, Uzzy had a half volley that spun eight degrees and he nicks it, and you go, well, there’s not much you can do about that."
Australia finally won their first game of the series in Nagpur by nine wickets after sustaining crushing defeats in the first two games. The tourists showcased remarkable resilience, taking the upper hand by bundling India out twice for below 200.
"We know that we haven’t given enough at the tail there" - Alex Carey
Despite not scoring enough runs since his enterprising 36 in the first innings in the first Test in Nagpur, Carey said that he will stick to his sweeps and reverse sweeps instead of changing his plans drastically. He said:
"I had some confidence out of the first game and then getting out defending, am I happy with that? Not really. I think probably just sticking to my method now and understanding if you chase it too much, then you might get yourself into trouble. So yeah, back my strength and try to score with the sweeps and manipulate a little bit more that way. In India, if you change your method too much, it goes pretty quickly. I’ll continue to be positive over here."
The 31-year-old added:
"We know that we haven’t given enough at the tail there. We also understand that India’s batting line-up is very, very strong. They bat all the way down to 10 really. We’ll have those conversations about how we can navigate and try to get 10-15 runs each more."
The fourth Test between India and Australia starts in Ahmedabad on Thursday (March 9).