Carey takes a rare break ahead of testing Pakistan tour

In a bid to prepare himself for his maiden overseas Test campaign, recently installed Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey will enter terrain almost as alien as whatever awaits in Pakistan, where the national men's team have not toured since last century.

After a gruelling summer during which he was hastily called up as Tim Paine's replacement in the Vodafone Ashes from where he went directly into a BBL 'bubble' with the Adelaide Strikers, Carey has spent the past week at a beachside retreat with his family.

The 30-year-old father of two has been playing top-level cricket virtually without a break since the Marsh Sheffield Shield kicked off in Adelaide five months ago, and in that time has racked up six Shield appearances, five Test matches, five Marsh One-Day Cup games and three BBL fixtures.

That's in addition to three outings with his SA Premier Cricket club Glenelg, and countless training sessions since returning from the mid-year limited-overs campaign in the Caribbean, where he captained Australia to a series win.

It's scarcely surprising therefore that, come the conclusion of last Tuesday's Marsh One-Day Cup match in Adelaide where he led South Australia in a five-wicket loss to Victoria, Carey was desperate to begin his rare mini-break before joining fellow Test squad members in Melbourne next week.

"There's no more games of cricket for me until we get to Pakistan," a visibly relieved Carey told cricket.com.au.

"I'll just spend this week with the family, heading down south, staying away from everyone to minimise contact and then jump on the plane to Melbourne and then Pakistan.

"I'll do some running and probably find time to have a catch and a hit throughout the next week, but a lot of it will be family time ahead of the next couple of months.

"And just put my feet up – hopefully take my mind totally off cricket for five or six days."

When Carey does return from a deserved sabbatical on SA's Fleurieu Peninsula, he will be joined in Melbourne by Redbacks teammate Brendan Doggett, who has been called up as a standby player for the Pakistan tour after fellow fast bowler Mark Steketee was elevated to the 18-man touring party.

Steketee was added to the Test squad after his Queensland teammate Michael Neser was ruled out with a side strain.

And Doggett - who returned to Shield cricket last week after missing three months with a side strain - becomes a standby bowler alongside Sean Abbott who was absent from New South Wales' most recent Shield encounter due to ... a side strain.

Given Australia's fast bowling stocks include Josh Hazlewood, who missed the last four Ashes Test after also suffering a side strain, it seems selectors can't have too many auxiliary quicks waiting in the wings to cover an injury scourge spreading almost as fast as COVID-19.

However, Doggett – who bowled with sharp pace and occasional bursts of reverse swing with an older ball despite struggling for rhythm in his comeback game last week – will also play an important role at Australia's pre-departure practice sessions.

With the pitch at Rawalpindi (where the first Test begins on March 4) expected to favour fast bowlers, and with Pakistan boasting an array of quicks who will be as au fait with conditions as the tourists will be unfamiliar, Australia's preparation will differ from their normal training ahead of a subcontinent visit.

Prior to recent tours to Asia and the UAE, where Australia have won just three of 26 Tests stretching back to 2008, practice sessions have focused on pitch conditions expected to favour spinners.

But Carey noted that while that remained a likely scenario, they must also be ready to encounter lively pace and reverse swing which Pakistan's seamers have historically mastered.

"Preparing for the most difficult scenario from our perspective would mean preparing for spin-friendly conditions," Carey said.

"If you prepare for that, but then come up against something different - if they're quick-friendly pitches that are a bit harder and bouncy – then we've all experienced more of those conditions here in Australia than the spinner-friendly ones.

"But we'll probably get a taste of all of those at some stage, and I have no expectations.

"It's more just the excitement to get over there and have a week or so lead-in to that first Test – catch balls, hit balls, face spinners, face quicks, face the reversing ball.

"We've got a bit of time to assess and prepare together."

If the Pakistan pitches defy expectations and markedly favour spin, Australia can call on uncapped leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson and left-arm orthodox allrounder Ashton Agar to lend support to principal spinner Nathan Lyon.

That scenario would also present a tougher trial for Carey in his first away campaign as Test keeper, having endured scrutiny for his glovework to the quicks even though he snared 23 catches in his maiden Ashes series.

Despite not having kept wicket in first-class cricket on the subcontinent (he returned home for the birth of his first child prior to four-day games being played on the 2018 Australia A tour to India) he is confident he's seen enough of Australia's spin trio should conditions dictate they play.

"I went on an Australia A tour with Sweppo (Swepson) and have been at NPS (National Performance Squad) camps with Sweppo as well as playing some white-ball cricket with him in recent years," Carey said.

"But with the coming week's lead-up providing a chance to work with him, and then again when we first arrive in Pakistan, there will be a good opportunity to catch some balls, which is what I did with Nath (Lyon) throughout this summer.

"And it's the same with Ashton (Agar), so there's lots of great options for us but I guess it will be wait and see what we get over there.

"For me it's just continuing to build, and to keep having those close relationships with the spinners that is very important.

"It's going to be interesting, and exciting." 

Qantas Tour of Pakistan 2022

Pakistan squad: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan, Abdullah Shafique, Azhar Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Nawaz, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Zahid Mahmood

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner. On standby: Sean Abbott, Brendan Doggett, Nic Maddinson, Matthew Renshaw

March 4-8: First Test, Rawalpindi

March 12-16: Second Test, Karachi

March 21-25: Third Test, Lahore

March 29: First ODI, Rawalpindi

March 31: Second ODI, Rawalpindi

April 2: Third ODI, Rawalpindi

April 5: Only T20I, Rawalpindi

All matches to be broadcast in Australia on Fox Cricket and Kayo Sports