Just after lunch on the fourth day of the Centenary Test at the MCG in 1977, the classroom speaker at my Perth primary school crackled into life with the muffled voices of the ABC radio.
Our teacher demanded we stop what we were doing because history was about to be made. Perhaps Queen Elizabeth, who was in Australia on her Silver Jubilee tour of the Commonwealth, was about to address her colonial subjects with a momentous announcement?
A thunderous bluster from the tiny speaker filled the room as the teacher proudly declared that Rod Marsh had just become the first Australian wicketkeeper to score a Test century against England.
The pugnacious Western Australian, who had the reckless bravery of a bare-knuckle fighter at a travelling agricultural show, revolutionised world cricket because he was the first player to be selected for Australia for his batting ability rather than his glovework. It’s a template that most cricketing nations have been copying ever since, with varying degrees of success.
Before Marsh, keepers resembled buttoned-up bureaucrats selected for being skilled artisans capable of perhaps crafting a few valuable runs alongside the tail. However, Marsh’s lightning-fast reactions and gravity-defying acrobatics also made him the finest gloveman Australia has produced.
Years later, Adam Gilchrist transformed the role once again with his belligerent and brutal batting, but he wasn’t always that deft behind the stumps. Australia’s insatiable thirst to find a genuine all-rounder who could abruptly alter the course of a game from No 7 meant sacrificing the odd catch or stumping.
Until now.
Australia’s current keeper, Alex Carey, might not be as bludgeoning or breathtaking with the willow as Gilchrist, but he has redefined the craft of keeping with his masterclass in the second Ashes Test in Brisbane.
There’s a ubiquitous saying that the best keepers go unnoticed, but Carey’s performance was so mesmerising that the cricket world is calling it one of the most extraordinary Ashes wicketkeeping efforts.
The 34-year-old’s display behind the pegs would have won him the man of the match award if it wasn’t for another dazzling display from Mitchell Starc with the bat and ball. Nevertheless, a conga line of past players were left stunned by Carey’s game-changing ability to stand up to the stumps to seamers.
Former master gloveman Ian Healy said, “we have to go all the way back to Don Tallon for this sort of keeping performance”. Brad Haddin praised Carey on Triple M radio, claiming “you’ll never see a better keeping display or a braver keeping display than this”. Captain Steve Smith was less eloquent, simply calling him a freak.
Carey is not the first player to stand up to fast-medium pacers, but rarely has there been such a flawless display of keeping. He showed unbelievable reflexes to catch dangerman Ben Stokes off the bowling of Michael Neser. The South Australian didn’t flinch as he meticulously grasped the thick outside edge off the England captain’s bat.
Carey finished the Test with seven catches, including an absolute screamer to dismiss Gus Atkinson after running back with the flight of the ball. The keeper also made a crucial 63 in the first innings, which paved the way for Starc and Scott Boland to bat out the daylight hours, where the pink ball was at its dullest.
Remarkably, Carey revealed after the match that he didn’t practice standing up to the quicks in training because it was probably a little bit too dangerous, and he just let his instincts take over.
Carey didn’t exactly set the world on fire when he replaced Tim Paine as Australia’s wicketkeeper for the 2021 Ashes series. There were lofty expectations and it wasn’t long before Carey was feeling the pressure to retain his spot after dropping a couple of sitters in the Boxing Day Test against England. He also struggled with the delicate art of batting with the tailenders.
But he quickly silenced the doubters after carving out an elegant maiden Test century against South Africa the following year. Ironically, he was the first keeper to bring up a ton at the MCG since Marsh’s unbeaten 110 in the second innings of the Centenary Test.
As Carey’s career continues to flourish, the comments of Australia’s former tormentor Stuart Broad – that the keeper would only be remembered for his controversial stumping of England’s Jonny Bairstow at Lord’s – haven’t aged well.
It’s unlikely that Carey will ever reach the stellar heights of Marsh behind the stumps. However, after a brilliant year with the bat in 2025, his current average of 35 is the second-highest for an Australian keeper after Gilchrist. In modern-day cricket, wicketkeepers are expected to be handy with the bat, but after his performance in Brisbane, Carey is unquestionably the premier gloveman in world cricket.
