Cricket legend Mark Taylor has given Alex Carey the nod to keep wicket for Australia during the looming Ashes series.
The Aussies are looking for a new gloveman after Tim Paine announced he is taking a break from all forms of cricket. A week earlier Paine had stood down as captain of the Test team when a sexting scandal emerged.
Pat Cummins was this week announced as the new skipper, but selectors are yet to make a decision on a new wicketkeeper.
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Carey is facing competition from the likes of Josh Inglis and Jimmy Peirson, but Taylor wants Australia to go with the South Australian for the opening Test at the Gabba on December 8.
“I think it’s got to be Alex Carey,” Taylor told Nine’s Sports Sunday.
“Inglis being in the T20 side recently has put a bit of pressure on but Alex Carey’s been around for a while and been a past vice-captain of the Australian one-day side.
“I’ve got him in there just for experience.”
Carey, 30, has played 45 one-day internationals and 38 Twenty20 internationals for Australia, but is yet to make his Test debut.
He has captained Australia A previously, is a quality gloveman, and averages 34.73 with the bat in first-class cricket.
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Inglis is the bolter to win the spot, after the 26-year-old travelled with the Aussies to the T20 World Cup and acted as Matthew Wade‘s deputy.
Following that victorious tournament, Wade himself essentially ruled himself out of playing Test cricket again.
The other spot in the Australian Test side yet to be decided is the No.5 batter. It’s believed to be a race in two between Usman Khawaja and Travis Head.
“I’ve got Travis Head at No.5, just ahead of Usman Khawaja, but there’s a trial match where Khawaja and Head will go head-to-head,” Taylor said.
England, meanwhile, has been quietly preparing in Brisbane, although its intra-squad match was largely rained out during the week.
Taylor can’t be sure how the two teams stack up.
“There’s a sort of unsettled look about this (Aussie) team now that I wasn’t expecting we would be talking about two weeks out from the first Test,” he said.
“The whole build-up is quite strange. England being here, coming out of quarantine and playing intra matches. There’s not these two or three first-class games leading in where we get an idea of where the two sides are at.
“Australia has come back from winning the World Cup, and then have all this controversy. I don’t think we know what we’re going to get come December 8.”
Mark Taylor’s Test XI: David Warner, Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon (12th man Jhye Richardson)