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“I’m pretty proud of him”: Nathan Lyon praises Alex Carey’s debut performance at the Ashes 2021-22 Brisbane test

Rishikesh Sharma
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"I'm pretty proud of him": Nathan Lyon praises Alex Carey's debut performance at the Ashes 2021-22 Brisbane test

Ashes 2021-22: Alex Carey’s debut in Brisbane has been praised by Nathan Lyon, who completed 400 test wickets in the game.

Australia dominated England in Brisbane in the first Ashes Test. Travis Head scored a wonderful century, whereas the rest of the batters and bowlers also played their part. Before the Ashes, Australian cricket had some rough weeks. After Tim Paine’s sexting scandal, Australia not only needed a new captain but a new wicket-keeper as well.

There was a close battle between Alex Carey and Josh Inglis, but Carey won the battle in the end. Carey made a terrific debut, where he took eight catches and made a world record. He was not tested in batting, but his keeping ability impressed everyone. Many of the former cricketers also backed Carey, and he repaid the faith. Even Rashid Khan has hailed Carey as the world’s best wicket-keeper, as they play together for Adelaide Strikers.

Ashes 2021-22: Nathan Lyon hails Alex Carey’s debut as “incredible”

Before the Ashes, Nathan Lyon hailed Tim Paine as the world’s best keeper. However, he was really impressed with Alex Carey’s work at the Gabba.

“It’s been an incredible debut,” Lyon said.

“I’m not surprised by it – his preparation in the lead-up has been world-class and he’s obviously played a lot of white-ball cricket for Australia.”

“He’s been coming down (to training) on the early bus with me to catch in the nets. He had a really good catch with me and our relationship is only going to get bigger and better … I’m pretty proud of him.”

Alex Carey was rather modest in his reply and believes taking the catches can overshadow the mistakes. He also praised the bowlers’ bowling and insists that he will try to improve.

“I’ve kept a little bit to ‘Gaz’ (Lyon) in white-ball cricket but that’s a bit different because there’s a lot happening in front of you,” Carey said.

“I’ll continue to work hard with him … myself, (close-in fielders) Marnus (Labuschagne) and ‘Smithy’ (Steve Smith), we’re all in the game when he’s bowling.”

“As a wicketkeeper, you only tend to get judged on catches taken or catches dropped.”

“But they’re all bowling beautifully and I’ll just keep trying to work hard on my ‘keeping to those guys.”

The 2nd Ashes 2021-22 D/N test will be played from 16 December 2021 at the Adelaide Oval.

About the author

Rishikesh Sharma

Rishikesh Sharma

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An engineering graduate and an ardent sports fan, Rishikesh Sharma is covering cricket for three years now after not making peace with a corporate life and has written more than 5000 articles. While Sourav Ganguly made him fall in love with the sport, Brendon McCullum and Gautam Gambhir enhanced it. Apart from cricket, Rishikesh is a huge fan of Liverpool FC. When not watching sports, you will find him riding around Jaipur.

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