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Gloves off: Carey embraces 'keeping competition

Alex Carey says he is relishing the chance to work alongside three other gloveman in the Caribbean, with a World Cup spot up for grabs

Wicketkeeper Alex Carey concedes he is no certainty to return to Australia's T20 side next week, with the gloves for this year's World Cup remaining up for grabs.

Carey and T20I incumbent Matthew Wade are among four wicketkeepers Australia have picked for tours of the Caribbean and Bangladesh that shape as a final chance to push for inclusion in the tournament to be held in the UAE from October.

Both Carey and Wade, along with rising star Josh Philippe, spent time at training on Thursday in St Lucia with the gloves on working with assistant coach Andre Borovec, a former Victorian first grade wicketkeeper with Geelong and now a highly-rated coach who is on his maiden international tour.

Ben McDermott, who keeps regularly in the KFC BBL although has recently handed over the gloves whenever Wade has also featured for the Hobart Hurricanes, is also in the 18-player Australian limited-overs squad.

Carey said he is relishing the "strong competition" for a World Cup spot.

"I think we would all love to represent the country, but we are a really close group of players and I'm just excited to have three wicketkeepers on tour to work closely with," said Carey.

"Sometimes when you go on tour, you're trying to scrape together someone to help you out (with wicketkeeping), it's probably more excitement (than rivalry), to be able to work really closely with the other guys and pick each other's brains.

"We can all hold the bat really well and we'd all be dying to play in the first game, whether it is with the gloves or with the bat … it's good competition."

Langer brilliant to tackle issues head on: Finch

Carey is the incumbent 50-over keeper and appears likely to resume his post for the three ODIs in Barbados against West Indies later this month, and is the presumed Test gloveman-in-waiting behind skipper Tim Paine.

But Wade took Carey's spot in the shortest format during last year's tour of the United Kingdom and has remained behind the stumps for Australia's last nine T20 Internationals.

The Tasmanian even stood in for Aaron Finch as captain during last summer's India series. Carey on the other hand was stripped of the limited-overs vice-captaincy last year.

Wade impressed with consecutive half-centuries against India and has batted in Australia's top three in all but one (and opened in all but two) of the T20Is he has played in his return.

That could actually work against Wade considering David Warner has not played in any of those games and both Finch and Steve Smith have missed matches during that stretch.

All three of Warner, Finch and Smith (fitness pending) are expected certain starters to bat in the top four at the World Cup, while Philippe could also make a strong push for a spot with good performances against the Windies and Bangladesh following a promising debut campaign against New Zealand.  

Carey on the other hand has mainly batted between five and seven in his 30-game T20I career.

"We've got some great options at the top of the order here and we've got some really good options through the middle," said the 29-year-old, adding he would be happy to play as a specialist batter if asked to.

"Personally speaking, I'll play any role that that is thrown at me.

"For me it's just preparing really well this tour, understanding there's some ODI cricket as well at the back end of the (Caribbean) tour."

"I'm really keen to nail the first week of all the training and leave the selection up to the selectors.

"By continuing to work really hard, leading into game one if I'm not (selected) then you continue that into the ODI series as well."

Qantas Tour of the West Indies 2021

Australia squad: Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Wes Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Dan Christian, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Mitchell Marsh, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa. Travelling reserves: Nathan Ellils, Tanveer Sangha.

West Indies T20 squad: Kieron Pollard (c), Nicholas Pooran (vc), Fabian Allen, Dwayne Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Fidel Edwards, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Evin Lewis, Obed McCoy, Andre Russell, Lendl Simmons, Kevin Sinclair, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh Jr

T20 series
(all matches at the Darren Sammy Stadium, St Lucia)

First T20: July 10, 9.30am AEST (July 9, 7.30pm local)

Second T20: July 11, 9.30am AEST (July 10, 7.30pm local)

Third T20: July 13, 9.30am AEST (July 12, 7.30pm local)

Fourth T20: July 15, 9.30am AEST (July 14, 7.30pm local)

Fifth T20: July 17, 9.30am AEST (July 16, 7.30pm local)

ODI series
(all matches at Kensington Oval, Barbados)

First ODI (D/N): July 21, 4.30am AEST (July 20, 2.30pm local)

Second ODI (D/N): July 23, 4.30am AEST (July 22, 2.30pm local)

Third ODI (D/N): July 25, 4.30am AEST (July 24, 2.30pm local)

* Details of five-match T20 tour of Bangladesh are yet to be announced by the Bangladesh Cricket Board. Tours are subject to agreement on bio-security arrangements and relevant government approvals.