The Carey question: Will Australia need wicketkeeping back-up for the T20 World Cup?

The second T20I in Darwin was lit up by Dewald Brevis' century, but it also highlighted a question Australia have to answer before the T20 World Cup: do they need to have wicketkeeping cover in their 15-player squad?

With Josh Inglis suffering from flu which he had played through in the opening game, Alex Carey was flown in ahead of schedule and earned his first T20I since 2021. He pulled off one of the more unusual stumpings to remove Lhuan-dre Pretorius and was Australia's second-highest scorer with 26 off 18 balls.

In a home bilateral series it was easy enough for the selectors to make a quick phone call to Carey and have him fly up to Darwin at short notice. But things are trickier in global tournaments where squad sizes are restricted, replacement players need approval and once a player is removed from the squad they can't return.

Inglis is locked in as Australia's white-ball keeper but there would be a risk of entering a World Cup without another option on hand to take the gloves, particularly with Inglis managing ongoing back problems. None of the other batters in the current T20I squad, which seems likely to form the core of the World Cup group, are viable alternatives behind the stumps.

Australia nearly found themselves in such a situation at the 2022 T20 World Cup when Matthew Wade came down with Covid prior to the game against England. Inglis, who was in the original squad, had suffered a hand injury playing golf prior to the tournament and been replaced by Cameron Green. As it was, the match was washed out although Wade would likely have pushed through and played. Australia's contingencies on that day were potentially David Warner, who once took the gloves in a Test match, and captain Aaron Finch.

At the most recent T20 World Cup in the Caribbean last year, Wade and Inglis were both in the 15-player squad, as they were for the 2021 edition in the UAE that Australia won. At the 2023 ODI World Cup, Inglis was in the squad and replaced Carey after one game. Now the duo feature together in the one-day side, with Carey playing as a batter in the Champions Trophy earlier this year.

In the 50-over format they can both carry themselves as frontline batters, but that is not so clear cut for the T20I team. Tuesday was only the seventh time Carey had batted as low as No. 7 in a T20 and the first since 2018, with everyone else moved up a place in Inglis' absence. His two BBL hundreds have come as an opener while he also has a solid record at No. 4. Overall in T20, Carey's strike-rate is 129.04 compared to Inglis' 150.98. However, in limited BBL appearances over the last three seasons, Carey has lifted his strike-rate to 146.52, which is higher than Inglis' 138.57 over the same period.

The issue the selectors will need to ponder early next year is whether there's a spot in a 15-player squad for Carey, where the choice could come down to between him and another frontline batter, to cover for the eventuality where Inglis is unavailable for a game but hasn't suffered a tournament-ending injury.

On the recent tour of West Indies, a key reason Jake Fraser-McGurk was called in as a replacement when Spencer Johnson was ruled out was because the selectors are looking to build on the wicketkeeping side of his game and they wanted cover for Inglis in a condensed series.

There is a chance he will have the gloves at some point for Australia A in the one-day series against India A in late September with him and Lachlan Shaw the two keeping options in that squad. But currently Fraser-McGurk doesn't warrant a place as a batter in the national side - he made 2 in his one innings in West Indies to continue a lean year in T20s where he is averaging 19.41 albeit with a strike-rate of 150.22.