‘l love it here’: Alex Carey’s last laugh at booing Poms as axed gloveman seizes rare chance

Alex Carey was greeted by a splutter of boos when he walked out to bat at Headingley on Saturday afternoon.

England’s cricket fans haven’t forgiven the Australian wicketkeeper for the role he played in the infamous stumping of Jonny Bairstow at Lord’s last year, which prompted ugly scenes at the Home of Cricket.

“I love it here,” Carey smirked during the post-match presentation.

“It’s always a warm welcome.”

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After a promising start from the Australians, Carey watched from the non-striker’s end as the tourists lost a cluster of wickets during the second ODI against England in Leeds. Glenn Maxwell holed out towards deep mid-wicket, Aaron Hardie top-edged a bumper, Mitchell Starc spooned to square leg and Adam Zampa picked out point.

Australia was reeling at 9-221 in the 37th over when tailender Josh Hazlewood joined Carey in the middle — the average score batting first in ODIs at Headingley was 282, with the reigning World Cup champions at risk of falling comfortably short of that margin.

However, Carey and Hazlewood combined for a counterattacking 49-run partnership for the tenth wicket to frustrate England captain Harry Brook and set the hosts an awkward target of 271 for victory.

Carey, batting in a professional match for the first time since March, expertly protected his vulnerable teammate by farming the strike, only taking singles on the last two deliveries of the over.

The left-hander, later named player of the match, clobbered consecutive boundaries against England spinner Adil Rashid before pumping part-time tweaker Will Jacks down the ground for a six to reach fifty, his ninth in ODIs. When facing the quicks, Carey gave himself room and lofted over cover, attacking any short-pitched bowling.

The South Australian’s fighting knock came to an end in the 45th over — after hitting consecutive boundaries against speedster Ollie Stone, he awkwardly chipped a cut stroke towards deep point for 74.

Carey and Hazlewood had posted Australia’s highest tenth-wicket partnership in ODIs in England, with the Bendemeer Bullet contributing just four of the pair’s 49 runs.

Later during the run chase, Carey held onto a superb one-handed chance down the leg side to remove England all-rounder Liam Livingstone for a golden duck. The hosts ultimately fell 68 runs short of the 271-run target as Australia took a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

“It really goes to show those little partnerships at the back-end with your tailenders are vitally important on days like today,” Australian captain Mitchell Marsh said during the post-match presentation.

Carey’s half-century has given national selectors plenty to ponder ahead of the home summer — the 33-year-old was dropped from the ODI team during last year’s World Cup in India and replaced by West Australian gloveman Josh Inglis.

However, a quad injury for Inglis opened the door for Carey’s return to the ODI side in the United Kingdom, albeit on a temporary basis. But after rescuing the Australians in Leeds, Carey has heaped pressure back on Inglis ahead of next year’s Champions Trophy in Pakistan.

Inglis has scored 268 runs at 26.80 since replacing Carey in the ODI team last year, including classy fifties against Sri Lanka and the West Indies. However, the 29-year-old has been in blistering form in T20 cricket, smacking a record-breaking century against Scotland earlier this month.

“He’s a great young player, he showed that in the T20 series earlier this tour,” Carey said of Inglis.

“I’ve sat on the bench for the last little period for the Australian team in the ODIs, and it’s nice to get back out there. An opportunity popped up, who knows how long it will last, but I’ve had great fun.”

The third ODI between England and Australia gets underway at Chester-le-Street’s Riverside Ground on Tuesday, with the first ball scheduled for 9.30pm AEST.