Australia selector wants more of captain Carrey

SYDNEY: Australia’s selection chairman Trevor Hohns feels Alex Carey should be given more leadership exposure so that he may be a legitimate captaincy contender whenever Tim Paine’s time is up, even if he is doubtful whether there would be room for both to play in the Test team this summer.

Having successfully retained the Ashes in England, Paine’s immediate future is secure, leaving him with a good deal of autonomy about how long he decides to continue playing. Carey, though, is held in extremely high regard by Hohns and the national team coach Justin Langer, while he has also assembled a first-class batting record that is trending impressively upwards after two difficult Sheffield Shield campaigns to begin with.

Hohns admitted that Paine’s position as captain of the Test side in England had made it virtually impossible to fit Carey into the squad, and also suggested that like Adam Gilchrist 20 years ago, he might have to wait until the incumbent gloveman - Ian Healy then - exits the scene before gaining a debut.

“Alex Carey is very highly thought of and desperately unlucky, but it just didn’t quite fit him when Tim’s the captain and there’s a couple of other blokes that wicket-keep as the fill-in,” Hohns told ESPNcricinfo.

“He is held in such high regard that I’d seriously like to see him captaining his state, but that’s not for me to say. He’s the type of person that potentially is a very, very good leader.”

Undoubtedly, there is a sense among Australian cricket’s decision-makers that Carey is the team’s future wicketkeeper in all forms, and also potentially the captain. Paine, by his selection as a leader while keeping wickets, has opened up the possibility for someone other than the best batsman getting the job as had been customary.

In doing so, he has opened a door for Carey, who was inaugural captain of the Greater Western Sydney Giants in the AFL before returning to cricket, and is yet to play a Test. In South Australia, he has played under the leadership of Travis Head, who has this year served as Test vice-captain but was dropped for the fifth Test at The Oval.