Fluent but flawed Carey and Khawaja stand out on juvenile batting day for Australia

You hope the roar that rang out from the biggest Test crowd in Adelaide Oval's history when Alex Carey reached his century was heard in the heavens.

Upon reaching his third Test century, his first in an Ashes series and his first on his home ground, there was no great display of showmanship from Australia's quiet achiever. Carey instead removed his helmet, raised it and his bat and looked skywards, thinking only of his late father Gordon who passed away in September.

"I probably won't go into too much depth, I think you know the reasons why and I'll probably get emotional," Carey said after play. "It was obviously a really good feeling to score a hundred on home soil. To be able to take the helmet off and look up to the heavens. Yeah, it was a really nice moment."

Being a father himself, Carey knows what that moment would have meant to his dad. Only a day earlier, after Carey had completed his customary pre-game prep at training, he was ushering his son Louis around the back of the nets to watch Marnus Labuschagne face Jhye Richardson.

Carey was as excited to see his son get a thrill out of watching a world-class battle in the nets up close, as he was to reach a Test century. Louis then wanted to go to the pool, and Carey obliged like the dutiful, doting dad he is.

Just as he ushered Louis around Adelaide Oval, he ushered Australia through a day of batting that was borderline juvenile and has kept England in the series.

Albeit his own dismissal with 21 minutes to go before stumps when he looked unconquerable in a half-century stand with Mitchell Starc, with the opportunity to push England's bowlers into returning in 39-degree heat on day two, was no less brainless than some of his team-mates earlier in the day. He had also been dropped on 52, a difficult one-handed chance to Brydon Carse at cover, and given not out by both the umpire and DRS when he later admitted he had nicked one on 72.

In similar scenes to Brisbane, all of Australia's batters bar Cameron Green and the unbeaten Nathan Lyon reached double figures, except this time only Carey and Usman Khawaja made more than Starc's unbeaten 33 so far.

Khawaja made a stylish 82 to complete a bizarre 24 hours. His career looked all but over on Tuesday, having been left out of Australia's XI despite being fit again, but was returned to bat at No. 4 just 45 minutes before the toss when Steven Smith was ruled out with vertigo symptoms.

Khawaja's innings, like Carey's was in keeping with both Australia's day and Australia's batting line-up at present, fluent but flawed. And it does feel like Australia have left a lot of runs on the table after winning the toss and batting on good strip in hot weather.

"It would have been nice to be a few wickets less," Carey said. "[We had] opportunities today to go big and, you know, missed little moments. But [we're] still really in the game."

Travis Head, with three centuries at an average of 99.40 at No. 5 at Adelaide Oval, was opening in the position Khawaja had occupied for three-and-a-half years. He holed out to a stunning catch at cover-point in the tenth over failing to keep a full-blooded drive along the ground, trying to break the shackles after scoring just 10 from his first 27 deliveries.

Khawaja's first 27 balls showed why had been left out initially. He struggled to get off strike and looked at sea against a familiar attack from around the wicket. He too tried a booming drive on his 27th delivery and succeeded only in nicking to Harry Brook's left at second slip, but the straight-forward chance was clanged.

That freed Khawaja from his trance, with the help of some loose deliveries from England's bowlers. Flicks, cuts and pulls were offered like throwdowns, as was the part-time spin of Will Jacks, much to Khawaja's delight. He was unbeaten on 41 at lunch with Labuschagne set on 19. The losses of Head and Jake Weatherald, who fell top-edging a half-hearted pull for the second time in the series after looking extremely good in his 18, may not have been as wasteful as they appeared in the moment.

But that changed in three deliveries after lunch. Labuschagne chipped a 134kph back-of-a-length ball from Jofra Archer to midwicket to waste another start after a loose shot in Brisbane saw him fail to turn 65 into a big score.

Green, fresh off another big pay day in the IPL mini auction overnight, chipped a 139kph leg- stump half-volley to the same fielder two balls later. Green now averages under 30 in 26 Test innings on home soil with just four half-centuries. Adding another soft dismissal to the "embarrassing" one in Brisbane leaves an already impatient fanbase questioning his true worth.

England had done very little to earn four wickets before Australia had reached 100 and the temperature of the day had peaked. Carey and Khawaja countered with fluency but did not need to take great risks while scoring at nearly four runs an over in a 91-run stand. England's bowlers were anything but consistent and failed to threaten the stumps. The pair plundered Jacks at nearly a run-a-ball as he bowled unchanged from the city end for five overs.

It's hard not to consider the butterfly effect of moving Head permanently to the top and having Khawaja sub in for Smith in the middle despite his excellent first-class record at No. 4. After the pre-lunch flow, Khawaja slowed as England went shorter at him. One ball turned from Jacks to beat his outside edge. He immediately swept next ball, a shot he had profited from before lunch, but England had a better field for it and he picked out forward square. Where Head had walked out in the mid-afternoon sun in Adelaide last year against India and thumped a run-a-ball 140 to rip the game away and ensure the opposition wilted in the sun, Khawaja added just 41 to his lunch total and left the door open for the opposition.

Josh Inglis did likewise, also playing fluently for 32 but then chopping on with some indecision defending off the back foot. Pat Cummins came and went to leave Australia 271 for 7. It was left to Starc again to do what others couldn't, grind England down and make their quicks keep coming.

Carey reached his deserved milestone. Luck aside, he has been Australia's shining star with the bat this calendar year averaging 51.61 with centuries at No. 5 and No. 6 and thoroughly deserved the ovation for getting Australia out of a jam. The chants of "Carey! Carey!" rang out in a moment that left his wife in tears of pride in the stands. Even the Barmy Army, who made him a villain in 2023, stood and applauded a stunning innings.

But his end was wasteful as he later admitted, gifting Jacks a second trying to slog sweep him into the Members.

"[I] would've loved to have scored more runs and be there bit longer," he said.

A veteran of so many games at Adelaide Oval for his state and country, he knows Australia were under-par after winning the toss despite England bowling coach David Saker asserting the batting team edged the day. The highest first-innings score in a red-ball Sheffield Shield game at Adelaide Oval this season is 350 for 9 declared by South Australia, and they lost. All three red-ball games have been won by the team batting second, with second day runs proving much easier to score.

The ghost of the missed opportunity in 2023 remain fresh in Australia's mind. Despite Carey's hometown heroics, they have left the door ajar for England on a baking hot day where they could have burnt them to crisp.