Alex Carey's stunning return to Australia's ODI side will cause the selectors a headache ahead of the Champions Trophy 2025 when incumbent wicketkeeper Josh Inglis returns from a quad complaint, according to coach and selector Andrew McDonald.
Carey was recalled to Australia's ODI side at the start of the series against England - having been dropped during last year's ODI World Cup - after Inglis was ruled out of the first ODI at Trent Bridge due to quad soreness he suffered in the second T20I against England on September 13.
Inglis is still yet to recover and Carey has taken his chance with back-to-back scores of 74 and 77 not out, with both innings salvaging Australia from perilous positions to post competitive scores at Headingley and Chester-le-Street respectively.
It has raised the question of whether Inglis will automatically reclaim his spot when he is fit to return. Following Australia's loss to England in the third ODI, McDonald said the wicketkeeper's spot would be a headache, but a positive one.
"It's always a good problem to have 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 to have."
McDonald did suggest there was a possibility both men could play in the same team moving forward. The pair have played in the same ODI side for Australia on six occasions, four of those coming last year on the tours of South Africa and India immediately prior to the ODI World Cup, with Inglis playing as a specialist batter in all six games when Carey was the first-choice wicketkeeper.
"It's always something we will consider," McDonald said. "If you think back sort of 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 seem a less likely option when all of Australia's best players are fit and available. A more likely option would be Australia playing an extra allrounder to deepen the batting with Aaron Hardie putting his name up for the role with an impressive 44 from 26 balls at the death to help lift Australia's total above 300 on Tuesday. Hardie wasn't initially set to play until Adam Zampa was ruled out late with illness.
Australia have been keen to experiment with an allrounder at No. 8 since McDonald took over as coach in 2022 in the hope of potentially using that combination in major tournaments, only to consistently revert to playing seven batters and four specialist bowlers which was the model that won them the World Cup.
Hardie's form adds to their options, and potentially strengthens the case to play eight batters given he has bowled very impressively in the series so far. He can bowl with the new ball, and he provided a showcase of his death-hitting prowess despite having only limited experience in the role at the domestic level.
"Aaron Hardie called into the team late, got some critical death hitting there to get us up to a total," McDonald said. "He was definitely impressive today.
"It's something we've discussed over a period of time, and we're on the record in saying, leading to the last World Cup, 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 allrounders aren't always available and fit, so therefore 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 as well. 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 do like to lean towards the three quicks with Adam Zampa, but clearly, that's another way of playing."
The counterpoint is that Australia's allrounder-heavy attack can lack potency, no matter how many runs they score. That was especially exposed without Zampa in the side and England's batters took full advantage. McDonald is hopeful to have both Zampa and Travis Head available for the final two ODIs at Lord's and Bristol on Friday and Sunday.
"It's always a different team when Adam Zampa is not there, an incredible performer for us over a long period of time," McDonald said. "It was a late decision to leave him out. Clearly, 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 any further, but he should be ready to go."