The sexting scandal engulfing Tim Paine has left Australia scrambling to find a new captain before the first Ashes Test starts at the Gabba on December 8.
But selectors may also need to find a new wicketkeeper, in the event the veteran gloveman leaves the team altogether.
These are the contenders – in no particular order – to replace him behind the stumps.
READ MORE: Fresh details in Tim Paine sexting scandal come to light
READ MORE: Tiger Woods seen swinging a golf club for first time since crash
READ MORE: ‘Missing’ Chinese tennis star speaks in video call
JOSH PHILIPPE
He’s the youngest of the bunch at only 24 years old, but Philippe has established himself as one of the rising stars of Australian cricket over the last couple of years.
Granted, much of his rise has been in white-ball formats. He’s a Big Bash League star and has this year played 10 Twenty20 internationals and three ODIs for Australia.
But Philippe is no mug with a red ball either, averaging 33.19 from 23 first-class matches for Western Australia, including two centuries and nine half-centuries. In his most recent Sheffield Shield game he scored 129 against Queensland on a green Gabba deck.
He hits the ball well and hits it hard. He has the ability to score quickly, which is something Paine has been criticised for lacking when coming in at No.7 for the Aussies. Philippe’s glovework is super impressive, too.
JOSH INGLIS
The 26-year-old English-born gloveman has rocketed into Test calculations on the back of a stellar 2020-21 Sheffield Shield season for Western Australia.
He scored 585 runs and three centuries in domestic red-ball cricket last summer, pushing his first-class average to a respectable 34.03.
Like Philippe, Inglis has also been mightily impressive in the shorter forms of the game. So much so he travelled to the T20 World Cup with Australia, but was stuck behind the veteran Matthew Wade in the pecking order.
And, like Philippe, he would provide Australia with some serious hitting and fast-scoring in the lower-middle order, which is a weakness of Paine’s.
ALEX CAREY
The former AFL footballer has long been considered the heir apparent to Australia’s Test wicketkeeper spot, after Paine.
Eyebrows were raised when Carey was snubbed by selectors and left out of the T20 World Cup squad, with the younger Inglis getting the nod instead to travel as Wade’s back-up. But we all know Test cricket and T20 are two different games, so read into that what you will.
Carey is now 30 but Australia has seen several players burst onto the Test scene later in their careers, and flourish – the likes of Paine, Michael Hussey, Adam Voges, and Chris Rogers.
While he’s yet to earn a baggy green, Carey is plenty experienced in international cricket, having notched 45 ODIs and 38 T20Is for Australia. His first-class batting average is 35.66 and he’s capable of scoring fast or slow.
MATTHEW WADE
He’s only 33 years old but last week basically conceded his Test career is over, after playing 36 matches in the baggy green since debuting in 2012.
Wade was never the best gloveman in Australia and has been criticised plenty for mistakes behind the stumps at Test level. What he brought to the team was passion and steel, and a handy left-hand batter who could bludgeon opposition attacks when asked to.
The benefit of bringing Wade back into the Test team would be his experience already in that arena. But on pure ‘keeping ability, there are others on the waiting list with more claim.
JIMMY PEIRSON
The Queensland ‘keeper would be considered the bolter of the pack, given he’s never seriously been mentioned in Test discussions previously. At least publicly.
The 29-year-old has played 47 first-class matches and averages 33.06 with the bat. His first-class debut was for a Cricket Australia XI against the West Indies in 2015, where Peirson scored 64 and took four catches wearing the national colours.
He scored 132 in the second innings of a Sheffield Shield game last month against South Australia.
PETER NEVILL
The experienced NSW gloveman was the Test wicketkeeper for 17 matches in 2015 and 2016, before he was brutally cut from the team and replaced by Wade in an effort by selectors to add some mongrel to the Australian side, despite Nevill being a much better ‘keeper.
He struggled with the bat at Test level, failing to score a century in 23 digs and averaging only 22.28. But his glovework was arguably the best in the country for a long time, although Paine is certainly on that level currently.
Nevill hasn’t played an international game in five years, and hasn’t exactly been bashing the door down with his batting at Shield level recently.