“It’s always better to have options”: Andrew McDonald reveals close battle between Alex Carey & Josh Inglis for wicket-keeper role in the Ashes 2021

The Ashes 2021: Australia’s assistant coach Andrew McDonald has revealed that Carey & Inglis are in close competition for the wicket-keeper role.

The last week has not been great for Australian cricket. Tim Paine stepped down as the captain of the side and now has taken an indefinite break from cricket. After all the speculations, Pat Cummins is the new test captain of Australia. He will be Australia’s 47th test captain.

The leadership roles are decided for the Australian side, but the wicket-keeping role is still in doubt. Alex Carey and Josh Inglis are said to be the potential candidates to fill the spot of Tim Paine. Alex Carey definitely has some advantages over Josh Inglis. Carey has led Australia in the ODI format, whereas he was also a part of the 2019 WC squad. Josh Inglis has not made his International debut, but the way he has performed in the last year has been exceptional. However, the first-class records of both players are almost identical.

The Ashes 2021: Andrew McDonald believes Alex Carey vs Josh Inglis is still undecided

The Australia selectors, George Bailey, Justin Langer, and Tony Dodemaide, have been thinking over the choice of Carey and Inglis. Assistant coach Andrew McDonald has revealed that the decision is not yet taken.

“I think it’s really still up in the air,” McDonald said.

“We’ve got plenty of time before the first Test match, but I’m sure once they’re clear that there’ll be an announcement because we’ve got an Australia game and obviously Australia-A game as well.”

Handy time for Alex Carey to score a century!#MarshCup | #Ashes pic.twitter.com/HfVo6Qi5e0

— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) November 28, 2021

Alex Carey scored a brilliant hundred for South Australia in the Marsh One Day Cup on 28 November 2021. This is Carey’s 2nd hundred in the competition this year. He has certainly scored a century at the right time. Despite his poor red-ball form, McDonald has acknowledged Carey’s century.

“It’s white-ball cricket, but any form is good form as we like to say,” McDonald said.

“Obviously we’ve got Josh Inglis in camp with us at the moment, so he starved for match opportunities. Alex Carey was named in Australia A squad as a keeper as well. So we’ve got some options.”

“And that’s the beauty of it, it’s always better to have options than no options. So look forward to whichever way that goes and the start of someone’s career.”

The first Ashes 2021-22 test will be played from 8 December 2021 at the Gabba in Brisbane.