Talk to those who well know Australia’s newest cricket leader, and they’ll often cite Alex Carey’s background at the helm of a nascent group in the nation’s cut-throat football competition as integral to both his character development and his captaincy potential.
But Carey himself identifies his two years in the professional sporting ‘wilderness’ – albeit a laminated desk in the office of a financial planning outfit in suburban Adelaide – that instilled within him the drive to succeed, but also the grounded perspective that shapes his cricket philosophy.
An approach that seems likely to square nicely with that same hybrid of streetfighter competitiveness and homespun wisdom that Justin Langer will bring to the men’s team coaching role, and explains in part the decision to install Carey as vice-captain of the national T20 outfit.
Even though the 26-year-old’s formal on-field leadership experience is capped at a few stints with age-level teams, and as back-up skipper at Glenelg and the Southern Force in Adelaide’s grade-level competitions when regular captain Chadd Sayers is absent.
Of greater significance, in Carey’s mind, are the life lessons learned from the dual setbacks he endured when cut from the playing list of (firstly) the Greater Western Sydney Giants on the cusp of their entry into the Australian Football League.
And a few years hence, from the West End Redbacks after he had channeled his thwarted football ambitions into the resumption of a promising junior cricket career, only to cop a second de-listing.
“That was probably the big moment of realisation for me, getting de-listed (by the SACA) and having to work for two years with a financial planning firm helped me appreciate just how good cricket is, and how good professional sport is,” Carey told cricket.com.au this week.
“We really do have one of the best jobs.
“I think having to work full-time was the thing that made me realise just how good sport is.
“Having a bad day on the sporting field is still a lot better than spending your whole week in an office and doing a job you’re not so passionate about – although the people I worked with were really great – because playing cricket is not really a job, it’s a love.
“And if my experience in footy taught me anything, it’s to enjoy this privilege while it lasts because it can be over in a click of the fingers.”
Or a half-hour meeting with the coach, as was the case when Giants senior coach Kevin Sheedy snuffed out Carey’s AFL dream.
Carey had two years with GWS // supplied
While the need to find a job, for which Carey completed a diploma of financial planning, was the predominant learning the self-effacing wicketkeeper-batter took from his uncertain circumstances, there are other items gleaned from his time in football to which he continues to adhere.
The almost obsessive attention he paid to his diet and his pre-game routines in pursuit of his winter aspiration made sense at the time as he lived the ‘be the best player I can be’ mantra, but were revealed to him as being a bit faddish when his best was deemed not good enough for AFL.
As a consequence, he admits to consciously avoiding the temptation to “over-think” his cricket and instead has stripped back his preparation to its essential elements – hard work on the training track, a focus on doing his best for the team each game day, and enjoying every moment of the experience.
The smile that Carey takes into combat broadens when he recounts the insight that former Sri Lanka superstar Kumar Sangakkara shared with Adelaide Strikers and South Australia opener Jake Weatherald during the course of a KFC Big Bash League match.
Sangakkara noted that of the 233 innings played through his esteemed Test career, he reached scores of 90 or beyond just 41 times – a ‘success’ rate, if hundreds or thereabouts are employed as a batter’s KPI, of less than 20 per cent.
“If that’s what he (Sangakkara) rated as a pass mark, and he’s one of the very best to have played the game, then you just have to understand and accept there are going to be days when you don’t make runs,” Carey said.
“So now, with cricket I just try and enjoy it as much as I can because firstly, I know you’re going to have bad days at cricket and it’s about making the most of the good days.
“But also when it came to footy, I just thought that it was going to last forever and although I felt that I did everything I could to succeed, it was over in the blink of an eye and I look back now and realise I probably didn’t allow myself to take it all in.
“I like to think I’m quite calm now and I don’t get too uptight and I see the game for what it is, as well as always having a bit of a smile on my face.
“Cricket is a bit slower paced than footy obviously, and I’ve been a few more years in it so growing older and maturing probably helps, but I’m just enjoying being part of professional sport and realising how lucky I am.”
It’s not only a career path barely a decade long, yet already strewn with historic hurdles, that keeps the left-hander solidly grounded.
Carey’s wife Eloise, due to give birth to the couple’s first child in early September, regularly reminds him that employment prospects as a professional sportsman are decidedly less stable than her chosen field of occupational therapy, and he therefore needs to nurture a plan B for his family’s sake.
As such, he is currently undertaking a part-time course in building and construction management though he concedes he’s not sure where work will take him post-cricket.
It’s that level-headedness that saw him slot seamlessly into Australia’s ODI outfit at a moment’s notice last January when incumbent keeper Tim Paine was laid low by gastroenteritis, and his accompanying talent with bat and gloves that led to his installation in the T20I team shortly after.
And elevation to the vice-captaincy just months after that.
While that appointment came as something as a shock to many, including Carey who felt his inclusion in Cricket Australia’s central contracts list was the pinnacle of achievement after last summer, it made sense to his SA and national limited-overs teammate Kane Richardson.
Richardson is one of those who sees the drive and discipline that is instilled in budding footballers from adolescence manifesting itself in Carey’s influence around the Redbacks’ players and, like his wicketkeeper, believes it’s actions more than on-field chat that defines leadership.
“He’s super professional,” Richardson told cricket.com.au in assessment of Carey’s ascension.
“We hold our (SA) leadership group votes every year, and he’s always at the top of the list because he does everything right in terms of preparation and giving himself every chance to be successful.
“He’s one of those guys who doesn’t need to say a lot to follow his action.
“You watch the way he goes about his training, he always presents well, he talks well, he’s super fit and he trains his bum off. He leads in the way he acts.”
Whether Carey’s appointment as Aaron Finch’s T20 deputy makes him the preferred captaincy candidate should Finch be rendered unavailable remains to be seen.
As Carey sees it, his role as vice-captain is likely predicated on the understanding that – as wicketkeeper – he has the optimum view of what’s unfolding on the pitch given fielders are forever being manoeuvred around the field by a captain already burdened by decisions on a ball-by-ball basis.
But if that moment came, and in keeping with the more measured outlook he’s brought to the third iteration of his sporting life, Carey believes he would accept captaincy in his stride.
“It’s an interesting scenario – I don’t think I’d feel too uncomfortable especially having guys like Maxy (Glenn Maxwell) who’s always really good on the field, and (his SA skipper) Travis Head and others who can all provide advice and ideas,” Carey said.
“But if Finchy did go down with an injury, would they install me as captain? I’m not sure.
“As vice-captain on the team sheet, I suppose you could expect that.
“But I certainly wouldn’t feel daunted if that happened.”
ODI squad: Tim Paine (c), Aaron Finch (vc), Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye
T20 squad: Aaron Finch (c), Alex Carey (vc), Ashton Agar, Travis Head, Nic Maddinson, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Andrew Tye, Jack Wildermuth
Qantas Tour of England
June 7: Warm-up v Sussex, Hove (D/N)
June 9: Warm-up v Middlesex, Lord’s
June 13: First ODI, The Oval (D/N)
June 16: Second ODI, Cardiff
June 19: Third ODI, Trent Bridge (D/N)
June 21: Fourth ODI, Durham (D/N)
June 24: Fifth ODI, Old Trafford
June 27: Only T20, Edgbaston (D/N)
Qantas T20I tri-series Tour of Zimbabwe
Sunday, July 1: Zimbabwe vs Pakistan
Monday, July 2: Pakistan vs Australia
Tuesday, July 3: Australia vs Zimbabwe
Wednesday, July 4: Zimbabwe vs Pakistan
Thursday, July 5: Pakistan vs Australia
Friday, July 6: Australia vs Zimbabwe
Sunday, July 8: Final
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