Shared News • Last updated on Tue, 26 Jun, 2018, 08:25 AM
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Alex Carey aims to become the ‘best of player of spin’. © Getty
Alex Carey, the Australian wicketkeeper-batsman, has laid out his ambitions by saying that he wants to “be the best player of spin”. Recently during their 5-0 whitewash in the ODI series versus England, the Australian batsmen struggled to handle the spin duo of Moeen Ali (12 wickets) and Adil Rashid (12 scalps).
Alex Carey, who made his T20I debut earlier in the year, was also appointed as the national team’s new vice captain in the shortest format of the game before the England tour. The appointment indicates that the 26-year-old’s leaderships skills are rated highly by the think tank. “I want to be the best player of spin,” Carey declared. “We’ve seen through those middle overs we need to be better. It doesn’t have to be scoring boundaries every ball but at least manipulating the field, being a bit more busy, and getting on top of the spin,” he added.
The promising cricketer, who compiled a timely hand of 44 in the final ODI, observed that he took a lot of insights from watching the No.1 ranked side in the 50-over format “go about their business”. “Sitting on the sidelines was tough watching the boys,” Carey said. “Playing the last few games was a great experience for me, playing in England, a one-day series against the best side in the world. I personally took a lot out of it sitting back watching the best side in the world go about their business, and how much work we’ve all got to do to lift our game,” he added.
Australia time and again struggled to cope up with the England spin duo as they suffered one middle-order collapse after another. Justin Langer, the new head coach, and Ricky Ponting, who too has joined the coaching set-up, have tried to work on players’ techniques against spin in the nets. Carey also revealed about taking valuable lessons from the legendary ‘keeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist.
“It’s more the off-field stuff and just coming into a game with a pretty clear mind of ‘What’s going to be best for the team to win a game?'” Carey said of his chats with Gilchrist. “The best part about ‘Gilly’ is he kept it pretty simple when he played and he’s doing the same with the messages he’s giving us. If there’s anything it’s just little bits and pieces but it’s pretty much ‘what’s best for our team to win?’ and going into games with that mentality. It keeps everything else pretty simple,” he noted.
“I’ve been speaking to ‘Punter’ (Ponting) about whatever it is that comes up. There’s so much I’ve spoken to him about and (I’m) just trying to take what works for me as well. Just taking bits from all these guys (Langer, Ponting, Gilchrist) and trying to put it into my game, without trying to complicate it as well,” he said.
