Not at sixes or sevens, Carey gives ton of options

Alex Carey's breakthrough Boxing Day ton not only ends a barren stretch of almost a decade in which no Australia wicketkeeper reached triple figures in Tests, it could also pave the way for a radical rethink of the team's batting blueprint.

Carey's counter-punching 111 from 149 balls today could hardly have been more timely, in setting up Australia's victory push in the second NRMA Insurance Test against South Africa as well as in planning for the series finale at the SCG next week and the subsequent tour to India.

With seamers Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green both sustaining finger injuries on their respective bowling hands and in doubt for the New Year Test against the Proteas as a result, selectors are mulling possible replacements in the knowledge all-rounders of Green's calibre are scant.

And given early reports the SCG wicket block is almost as barren, the panel might consider adding an additional spinner to supplement the likely line-up of three quicks and incumbent tweaker Nathan Lyon which would inevitably require Carey's elevation to number six.

The bold move to install the men's Test keeper as a specialist bat has not been tried for almost as long as the gap between hundreds by Australia's glovemen – the most recent before today was Brad Haddin's 113 at Adelaide in the 2013-14 Ashes – but Sydney looms as the most suitable venue to try it.

The past three times the ploy has been used by Australia in home Tests has been at the SCG.

In 2012, Matthew Wade was bunted up the order against Sri Lanka to accommodate four seamers plus Lyon, and duly top-scored for his team with 102no in Australia's comfortable win.

Two years earlier, Haddin was used at number six ahead of emerging spin-bowling all-rounder Steve Smith as Australia deployed three quicks and left-arm spinner Michael Beer, with the Ashes of 2010-11 already lost.

And prior to that, it was the inclusion of another budding all-rounder – Shane Watson in just his second Test – that saw Adam Gilchrist promoted for one of the 14 times in his 96-Test career in the one-off match between Australia and an ICC World XI.

Gilchrist had occupied the number six berth permanently during Australia's four-Test tour to the West Indies in 2003 where flat Caribbean tracks convinced the visitors they needed a five-pronged bowling attack including tandem wrist spinners Stuart MacGill and Brad Hogg.

Image Id: 81661186A3EA451C8FEB04392A9BCB98 Image Caption: Carey preparing to bat on day three at the MCG // cricket.com.au

Australia's most successful keeper-batter claims a key reason he didn't persist in the top six was due to his lack of desire to bat any higher, but on the occasions he was asked to do it he found little difference to his regular berth lower down.

"I don't think batting either six or seven is a massive change, it's not like you're going into the top five, or batting at three or opening," Gilchrist told cricket.com.au today.

"It's a subtle change, and ideally if the top order works well enough ahead of you then you get a bit of a break between keeping and batting.

"You just play your natural game, and what Kez (Carey) has got is a really compact defence and ability to be able to accelerate when the opportunity is there.

"Plus, he plays spin particularly well.

"So in conditions like Sydney, which we think is going to be a turning wicket because of the way it looks at the moment, it makes sense."

Image Id: 34B2B7DF214E4A33B77EEACB409B022B Image Caption: Carey walks out to keep wicket shortly after his maiden Test century // cricket.com.au

When asked if he felt capable of making the shift to six at the SCG next week depending on what selectors opt to do, Carey jokingly pointed out he had already opened for Australia in Tests – in his debut against England at the Gabba last year, when David Warner was sidelined for the second innings.

But he also boasts significant higher-order first-class batting credentials with South Australia, where he began his career as top three player before losing his Redbacks contract and returning as a keeper who has since shuttled regularly between numbers five and seven.

The 31-year-old boasts hundreds in all those roles, including 125 at five against a New South Wales attack including Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Lyon, and a couple at six when he tamed the likes of Joel Paris, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Agar, James Pattinson, Scott Boland and Jon Holland.

"Whatever opportunity I get for the Australian cricket team, I'll put my hand up to do," Carey said this evening, foreshadowing the inevitability of Green's absence at the SCG.

"We've got some really good players around the country in good form at the moment, so whoever comes in will fill the spot.

"If I have to open again, I'll put my hand up."

While Carey's career-high Test score today – eclipsing the 93 he fell for at Karachi earlier this year, which he admits has haunted him at various times during subsequent months – was crucial for the current match, it also bodes well for what lies further ahead.

With the third Test to be followed by four matches in India in February and March, Carey's ability to combine long stints up at the stumps with crucial runs in the middle-order will perhaps provide him with the greatest challenge of his fledgling career.

The 31-year-old showed during the recent NRMA Insurance Test against West Indies at Adelaide Oval how deft his glovework can be at the stumps, snaring two stunning catches in quick succession from the bowling of seamer Michael Neser.

And although he's yet to experience long-format cricket on India's notoriously slow, spinning pitches, his performances on tours to Pakistan and Sri Lanka earlier this year showed he also has the batting game to prove productive regardless of where he's placed in the order.

Carey's five Tests in Asia show an average of 53.6 and a scoring rate of 60.5 per 100 balls faced, placing him in elite company among glovemen to have played five or more Tests in subcontinent conditions.

Of the visiting keepers, only West Indies Clyde Walcott (64.6), England's Paul Downton (61) and Zimbabwe's Andy Flower (55.7) can claim better batting averages, while India whirlwind Rishabh Pant (92.2) and Pakistan's Sarfraz Ahmed (81.8) are alone in citing superior strike rates.

Not even acknowledged keeper-batter greats raised on spin-friendly tracks, such as India's M. S. Dhoni (47.2) and Kumar Sangakkara (46.9), managed to average 50 in those familiar conditions.

It's Carey's capacity to find ways of moving along his team's run rate when required, coupled with a solid defensive game that enables him to mount salvage jobs if early wickets tumble, that Gilchrist believes holds him in good stead for the challenges of coming months.

"He can absolutely do that," Gilchrist said when asked if Carey's batting credentials stack up in India conditions where Australia have not won a series since he led them to an historic triumph in 2004.

"That's the danger of him, he can come into a situation when the team's under pressure – and he's shown that in 50-over white-ball cricket – to be able to absorb the pressure, halt the momentum and then he's got the game to go through the gears and start taking momentum in your direction.

"And he's got the modern players' stroke selection.

"A lot of batters can be a bit more traditional in their thinking like players of our era, but he's got the modern mentality and the confidence to play reverse sweeps, just to get off strike and not to make the statement that 'I'm attacking'.

"It enables strike rotation."

While it's unlikely Australia would go into a Test on India pitches with five specialist bowlers and a reduced batting cohort, Carey's controlled striking today against one of world cricket's foremost pace outfits will allow selectors the luxury of knowing it's a possibility if needed.

And perhaps if confronted by a lifeless road as was rolled out at Ranchi in 2017 – where just 25 wickets fell at a cost of 1259 runs across five bowler-destroying days – they could consider a fifth bowling option in the knowledge Carey is up to the task of keeping wickets and batting at six, with the surety he'll tackle it with a calm demeanour, and his ever-present smile.

"I think the experience in Pakistan where we were in the field for a long time, and then in Sri Lanka in some extreme conditions, it can also be fun," Carey said today when asked if he found combining the dual roles in trying circumstances to be mentally draining.

"Standing behind the stumps, with balls expected to come your way, it should be a fun challenge.

"And I guess batting over there as well, you need a method to stand up.

"But I'm not looking that far ahead."