Football great Kevin Sheedy’s ruthless call on Alex Carey’s AFL career set in train a chain of events that resulted in the wicketkeeper rewriting the history books with his first Test century and stamping himself as a key member in Australia’s push for world domination.
As a footballer, Carey harboured ambitions of being out on the MCG on grand final day but a landmark moment in the venue’s other storied sporting feature is not a bad consolation prize.
Eleven years after he was cut by Greater Western Sydney for their inaugural AFL season, Carey joined late great Rod Marsh as the only Australian wicketkeeper to reach triple figures in an MCG Test with a chanceless 111.
“I have to thank Kevin Sheedy it was a Test hundred rather than a run around with GWS on the footy field, he pointed me in the cricket direction,” Carey said.
Carey, the expansion club’s first captain when they competed in the under-18s competition in 2010, was the toast of those involved in the Giants’ formative years on Wednesday.
Alex Carey celebrates his first Test century for Australia.Credit:Getty Images
“Alex Carey, you little ripper. I’ll send him an invoice with 10 per cent as manager of his performances after I told him cricket should be the game for him,” Sheedy, the Giants’ inaugural coach, joked. “It’s a sensational achievement.
“I’ll be honest, I didn’t know if he’d ever be as good as he has become.
“Great credit to the young man with his performances as a professional – and it’s great to just be a part of his early days.
“He made the right decision. I advised him to say ‘look, you really should consider cricket if you feel you have the belief and confidence to do it’.
“Everyone at the Giants always knew he would do something, but we weren’t sure it would be in the AFL.”
Carey is just the seventh of Australia’s 34 male Test wicketkeepers to score a century, and the first since Brad Haddin hit 118 in Adelaide in the 2013/14 Ashes. Of the 32 centuries by Australian stumpers, 17 came off Adam Gilchrist’s bat. Batting was very much a second role for wicketkeepers until Gilchrist raised the bar.
His average of just under 40 sits second for Australian wicketkeepers, behind only the peerless Gilchrist.
Carey can now find closure to his near miss in Karachi when he reached 93 before an injudicious sweep led to him becoming one of just two Test victims for Pakistan batting star Babar Azam.
“It randomly pops into my head when I’m driving: why did I play that shot?” Carey said.
There were some doubts last summer over Carey’s future after a couple of shaky games in the Ashes, but he fixed up his work behind the stumps and also proved he could make invaluable runs at No.7.
Bigger challenges with gloves and bat await Carey next year when Pat Cummins’s team aims to become only the second Australian side to win a series in India, and the first to claim Ashes glory in England since 2001.
The spin-friendly tracks in India will test Carey’s technique behind the stumps, similarly in England, where the Dukes ball can swing prodigiously after passing the batter.
The writing was on the wall for Carey’s AFL dream after the Giants recruited a swag of midfielders in 2011. Lacking speed, he was at the back of a long line behind the likes of Callan Ward, Stephen Coniglio, Toby Greene, Adam Treloar and Taylor Adams. All have had distinguished league careers, though not all for the Giants.
“It’s been a bumpy journey along the way, footy not working out and cricket not working out after a few games,” Carey said. “It’s one of those things. Never give up on what you want, and hopefully it comes. I’m just lucky it has come my way.”
Carey was highly regarded by the Giants for his work ethic and character, traits which were also admired by Australian cricket’s inner sanctum.
“As is Alex Carey’s way, there was a real humility in the way that he celebrated that. It’ll mean so much to him. But that calmness and I have got tingles all through my body,” former coach Justin Langer said on Channel Seven.
“He is one of the really, really good people of Australian cricket and he should be immensely proud of that moment. The reason that you love seeing people like Alex Carey get rewarded is because he works so hard as well. He is an incredibly fit athlete. That doesn’t come on the shelf. You have to work hard for that.
“He works hard on his wicketkeeping. He works hard on his batting and being the consummate team man. You’re just really happy for people like Alex Carey who achieve these milestones.”
