He has failed to pass 20 in seven of his last eight innings, but history suggests that could all be about to change
Why Carey could be set to make sweeping statement
Glenn Maxwell has backed Alex Carey to reprise his form from the previous 50-over World Cup and play a key role in turning around Australia's recent middle-order struggles.
Aside from a fighting 99 in a losing cause against South Africa in the fourth ODI last month, the wicketkeeper-batter has failed to reach 20 in seven of his last eight innings.
It's remarkably similar to the lead in that he had to the 2019 World Cup in England where he only hit one half-century in the previous 12 months before finishing the tournament with the nation's second-best average (62.50) behind David Warner (71.88).
It was a breakthrough run in Carey's career, establishing himself as Australia's first choice 50-over gloveman and earmarking him as the eventual successor to Tim Paine in late 2021.
And if his nets form at training is anything to go by, Maxwell said he was poised to have a similar influence on Australia's 2023 World Cup campaign despite his second-ball duck in their first up loss to hosts India in Chennai.
"He's in a really good space at the moment," Maxwell said.
"He seems to be batting really well in the nets (and in the middle) from what I saw until probably I ran him out in that practice game (against Pakistan).
"He's keeping really well and he's doing a great job for us.
"The other night he just got his bat caught behind his pad which can happen sometimes. I feel like every batter has made that mistake, where you're trying to get forward and just clip your pad and it deflects it a little bit.
"But he's in good touch and I'm looking forward to seeing him do really well here."
Australia also have wicketkeeper Josh Inglis in their 15-player squad, with head coach Andrew McDonald flagging he could play a role as a specialist batter throughout the tournament.
The West Australian's numbers are similar to Carey's in the six one-day internationals he's played this year – Carey averages 20.56 from nine innings, while Inglis averages 21.33 from his six.
They've both scored off 52 per cent of balls faced in 2023, and each hit the sole half-century, with Inglis striking at a slightly quicker rate of 100.8 compared to Carey's 91.6. Inglis also hit a quickfire 30-ball 48 in Australia's warm-up match against Pakistan to go with his 37-ball 50 in the second ODI in South Africa.
"There's no doubt Josh is playing an up-tempo game with the laps and reverse laps," McDonald said last week ahead of Australia's opening match against India.
"He's always been an option for us, not only in that keeping space but in the batting space as well.
"We feel as though he might have a role somewhere in the tournament as a bat only, and if something were to happen to Alex, then we've got a capable back up who's now played eight one-day internationals.
"It's great that he's not coming in raw into this environment, he's had some experience and he's obviously taken the lead role in the T20 series in South Africa and performed well.
"We've been impressed with what he's offered but Alex Carey over a period of time has been ultra impressive."
Perhaps crucial to unlocking Carey's fluency and scoring options this World Cup has been the intent he's shown conventional and reverse sweeping in Australia's two warm-up matches.
He played five (three conventional and two reverse) in his 22 balls faced against spin in those matches having seemingly put the shot away since getting out to the reverse sweep three times in the Border-Gavaskar Test series in India earlier this year.
According to Opta, he attempted the two sweeps 32.5 per cent (21.8 conventional and 10.7 reverse) of the time when facing spinners in one-day internationals prior to the Test series against India.
In Australia's three series since, it's fallen to 14.3 per cent (10.7 conventional and 3.6 reverse), with his ODI strike rate also dipping from 98.9 in March this year to 84.5 in his eight matches prior to the World Cup.
Carey's intent with the two shots was evident at training on Tuesday night ahead of their clash with South Africa in two days' time, and it could prove a useful option if the Proteas go into to the clash with their two world-class spinners Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi on a Lucknow surface tipped to aid the slower bowlers.
"Absolutely (I will)," Carey told the Unplayable Podcast when asked if he'd bring out the reverse in the World Cup. "It's game dependent, field dependent and bowler dependent as well.
"For me, those shots are something that I practice and use. Over here you've got to have options to score and find boundaries.
"One-day cricket is a bit different to Test cricket as well so rotating the strike (is important in) getting the big hitters on strike and then they can clear the pickets."
Meanwhile, Maxwell said Marcus Stoinis was on track to be available for Australia's second game of the World Cup against South Africa on Thursday in Lucknow, a venue he'll be familiar with as the home of his Indian Premier League team the Lucknow Super Giants.
Stoinis missed Australia's six-wicket loss to India on Sunday after picking up a hamstring injury in the first ODI against the same opponents in Mohali last month.
"With the travel days and the timings of the training sessions, he probably only missed the first game by maybe a day," Maxwell said.
"I think he'll be good to go. This is his home ground in the IPL so hopefully he'll enjoy being back out there in a couple days' time.
"I've been speaking to him a fair bit being close mates and he says he feels ready to go and he's excited and frustrated that he obviously couldn't be out there for the first game.
"He's a big energy for our team and someone who obviously is a match-winner and someone you need in these types of tournaments."
Australia's 2023 ODI World Cup fixtures
October 8: Defeated by India by six wickets
October 12: v South Africa, Lucknow (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
October 16: v Sri Lanka, Lucknow (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
October 20: v Pakistan, Bengaluru (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
October 25: v Netherlands, Delhi (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
October 28: v New Zealand, Dharamsala, 4pm AEDT
November 4: v England, Ahmedabad (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
November 7: v Afghanistan, Mumbai (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
November 11: v Bangladesh, Pune, 4pm AEDT
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
IND
|
9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.57 | 0 | 18 |
|
2
SA
|
9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.261 | 0 | 14 |
|
3
AUS
|
9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.841 | 0 | 14 |
|
4
NZ
|
9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.743 | 0 | 10 |
|
5
PAK
|
9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.199 | 0 | 8 |
|
6
AFG
|
9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.336 | 0 | 8 |
|
7
ENG
|
9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -0.572 | 0 | 6 |
|
8
BAN
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.087 | 0 | 4 |
|
9
SL
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.419 | 0 | 4 |
|
10
NED
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.825 | 0 | 4 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points