Alex Carey has entered the chat when it comes to debate over the greatest wicketkeepers in Australian history.
He will never overtake Adam Gilchrist, whose record dwarfs any other keeper from any nation, but with trademark minimum of fuss, Carey has quietly worked his way into the conversation of the greatest exponents with the gloves.
Carey’s work behind the stumps in the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy series was top-notch, keeping up to the stumps like it was a breeze when needed to Scott Boland, Mitchell Marsh and Beau Webster to stop Indian batters advancing down the wicket.
And his batting is back to being a reliable bridge between the specialist batters and the tailenders after a lull following the 2023 Ashes.
As much as he and the Australian camp denied it, Carey was shaken up by the firestorm of controversy which descended upon him when he legitimately stumped Jonny Bairstow in the second Test at Lord’s.
And who could blame him – the Australian team’s biggest introvert was thrust into the spotlight and copped abuse in person on and off the field, as well as from the faceless and feckless who inhabit social and pockets of mainstream media.
Although Carey has only been first-choice Test keeper for little more than three years, he is already up to seventh on the all-time list for Australian keepers in terms of dismissals.
He has 155 from 37 Tests and will overtake his predecessor, former Test captain Tim Paine, on the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka.
Carey is within shouting distance of Wally Grout in fifth with the legendary Queenslander amassing 187 dismissals, including 24 stumpings, during his decade-long reign from 1957-66.
Despite being 33, Carey is super fit and likely to stay in the team for a few more years at least and could overhaul Brad Haddin’s 270 but is unlikely to reel in the top three of Gilchrist (416), Ian Healy (395) and Rod Marsh (355).
Most dismissals by an Australian wicketkeeper
| Career | Tests | Caught | Stumped | Dismissals | Average per innings | |
| AC Gilchrist | 1999-2008 | 96 | 379 | 37 | 416 | 2.18 |
| IA Healy | 1988-99 | 119 | 366 | 29 | 395 | 1.76 |
| RW Marsh | 1970-84 | 96 | 343 | 12 | 355 | 1.95 |
| BJ Haddin | 2008-15 | 66 | 262 | 8 | 270 | 2.11 |
| ATW Grout | 1957-66 | 51 | 163 | 24 | 187 | 1.91 |
| TD Paine | 2010-21 | 35 | 150 | 7 | 157 | 2.31 |
| AT Carey | 2021-25 | 37 | 141 | 14 | 155 | 2.21 |
| WAS Oldfield | 1920-37 | 54 | 78 | 52 | 130 | 1.3 |
When it comes to dismissals per innings, Carey’s current rate of 2.21 trails only Paine’s 2.31 although it’s hard to read too much into that statistic given that Healy, considered one of the standard bearers for Australia in terms of keeping skills, averaged 1.77.
Healy kept to Shane Warne, as well as Stuart MacGill and Tim May, for a lot of his career and spinners tend to get fewer wickets via the keeper than pace bowlers.
It’s hard to compare sportspeople from varying eras and when it comes to the time-honoured artistry of wicketkeepers, each Australian generation has had a standout operator whose feats long outlived their time in the baggy green cap.
From Jack Blackham in the colonial days, Hanson Carter soon after federation, Oldfield in the Bradman era, Gil Langley post-World War II, Don Tallon, Grout, Marsh and the more recent masters in Healy, Gilchrist, Haddin, Paine and now Carey.
Healy and his successors had the luxury of playing in an era where professionalism meant they could devote themselves to their craft and benefit from the advances in fitness, sports science and training techniques of the modern era.
Carey’s superior athleticism was noticeable during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series as he dived left, right, up and down to stop the Kookaburra flying to the boundary or pouch catches while India’s Rishabh Pant looked second rate by comparison.
Pat Cummins and Alex Carey celebrate the wicket of Jonny Bairstow during Day Five of the 2nd Ashes Test at Lord’s. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Image
An under-rated aspect of Carey’s value to the Australian team has been his batting.
Most people have stopped hoping for another Gilchrist to come along as a run-making machine at No.7 who will average close to 50.
Carey has racked up 1555 runs, including a century and a match-winning 98 not out last year in New Zealand, at a very respectable 31.73 which is only slightly behind Tim Paine (32.63) and Brad Haddin (32.98) among the mere mortals with Gilchrist’s outlier of 47.6 from 96 Tests.
A top-quality keeper who can bat well is always a better option than a batter who is handy with the gloves, as England eventually learned in the Ashes when Bairstow managed to outscore Carey by 122 runs across the five Tests but cost his team much more by botching six chances to his Australian counterpart’s two.
As is often the case with Carey, it went largely unnoticed but the selectors picked him in the ODI squad for the Champions Trophy, most likely to play as a specialist batter alongside Josh Inglis rather than ahead of him due to his form with the bat.
Carey bashed a couple of crucial 70s in the 2-1 series win over England in August to put his ODI career back on track after he lost his spot at the 2023 World Cup following his post-Ashes mini slump.
Not that Carey will be motivated by any kind of revenge for when England tour these shores later this year but at least he won’t have to put up with too many Bairstow barbs given that the Bazballers have punted him for a younger, fitter version in Jamie Smith.
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