Carey's form causes headaches ahead of Champions Trophy 

Alex Carey’s scintillating return to Australia’s ODI setup will cause the selectors a headache ahead of the Champions Trophy 2025 when first-choice wicket-keeper Josh Inglis returns from a quad complaint, according to coach and selector Andrew McDonald. 

Carey was recalled to Australia’s white-ball squad at the beginning of the series against England- having been axed during last year’s ODI World Series- after Inglis was ruled out of the opening ODI at Trent Bridge due to quad soreness he sustained in the second T20I against England on September 13. 

Inglis is yet to recover and Carey has grabbed the opportunity with both hands. The southpaw has compiled scores of 74 and an unbeaten 77 in back-to-back matches, with both innings salvaging the precarious positions to post formidable scores at Headingley and Chester-le-Street respectively.
 
It brings up the question of whether Inglis will directly reclaim his position when he is fit to return. After Australia’s loss to England in the third ODI, McDonald said the wicketkeeper’s spot would be a positive headache. 

"It's always a good problem when you've got people competing for spots within your team," he said. "Unfortunately, Josh was injured in the T20 series, and Alex has jumped into that spot and done incredibly well. So as I said, it's always a good problem."

McDonald suggested at the possibility of both men playing in the same team moving forward. The pair have played six ODIs for Australia, four of those coming last year on the tours of South Africa and India before the ODI World Series, with Inglish playing as a specialist batter in all six games when Carey was the preferred wicket-keeper. 
 
“It's always something we will consider," McDonald said. "If you think back to 12 months ago, we had Ingo and Kez in the same team. So it's quite possible, and the way that Alex is batting is very impressive. Summing up the situation, navigating going through the middle against spin. He's a quality player. He's played a lot of international cricket, so the way he's performing isn't a surprise to us."

But it would appear a less likely alternative when all Australia’s best players are fit and available. Australia playing with an additional allrounder to bolster their batting is the more likely option. Aaron Hardie has put his name up for the role with a skilful 44 from 26 balls at the death to help his side propel to a 300+ total on Tuesday.  Hardie wasn’t initially in the playing lineup but got his chance late when Adam Zampa was ruled out due to illness. 

Australia have been eager to slot an allrounder at number eight since McDonald took over as coach in 2022 in the hope of certainly using that combination in marquee events, only to consistently return to playing seven batters and four specialist bowlers which was the model that made them ODI champions. Hardie’s imperious form adds to their options and potentially reinforces their case to play eight batters considering he has bowled extremely well in the series. He can ball with the new ball, and he gave us a glimpse of his death-hitting prowess despite having only slender experience in the role at the domestic circuit. 

“Aaron Hardie called into the team late, got some critical death hitting there to get us up to a total," McDonald said. "He was impressive today.

"It's something we've discussed over some time, and we're on the record in saying, leading to the last World Series, we wanted to have three distinct ways of playing, and one of those was with the eighth batter. So we've done that previously. The all-rounders aren't always available and fit, so sometimes that team's not on the table.

"But we feel as though with the allrounders we've got with Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, you throw Marcus Stoinis also into that who's not here, Will Sutherland's been exposed across the journey. So you start to work through that. Matthew Short is an allrounder in his own right as well, along with Glenn Maxwell. So we've got options to be able to structure up that way. We like to lean towards the three quicks with Adam Zampa, but clearly, that's another way of playing."

The antithesis is that Australia’s all-rounder-heavy attack can lack the cutting-edge, no matter how many runs they add. That was especially evident without Zampa in the side in the last game. Mcdonald is hopeful to have both Head and Zampa for the fourth and fifth ODI at Lords and Bristol on Friday and Sunday respectively. 

“It's always a different team when Adam Zampa is not there, an incredible performer for us over a long period," McDonald said. "It was a late decision to leave him out. We've had a little bit of illness in the camp, and that's been well-documented. Unfortunately, he was the latest casualty.

"[Head] should be right for the next game. I won't go into that further, but he should be ready."