Alex Carey has another eventful outing at Lord's

Alex Carey's previous day of Test cricket at Lord's was interesting. So was this one against South Africa.

Missing a reverse sweep against Keshav Maharaj, and then spilling a regulation edge offered by Wiaan Mulder meant he was in the spotlight. However, Australia's strong finish, which left them ahead of the game despite being restricted to 212, has perhaps lessened the significance of the two moments.

The reverse sweep has been a regular theme of Carey's career. A few years ago, his wife, Eloise, made clear her thoughts on it. "My wife is the harshest critic of the reverse. She says, 'don't play the bloody reverse sweep, not again'," Carey joked in 2022 when it was a focal point of a tour of Sri Lanka. "But I just politely tell her, 'you haven't played the game; yes, you're going to get out to reverse sweeps and sweeps... but it can also produce some success as well'."

His decision to play it when he did on the opening day at Lord's will come under scrutiny. He used it to excellent effect in Sri Lanka earlier this year, but conditions at Lord's were certainly not Galle. From 192 for 5, and the prospect of reaching 300 if he and Beau Webster could continue under clearing skies, suddenly turned into a lower-order collapse of 5 for 20 from 34 balls.

But there was a gap in the field and, as for so many modern players, Carey sees it as just another of his shots. It went wrong, but it's unlikely to stop him doing it again if he feels the moment is right.

Carey's numbers with the reverse sweep illustrate the risk-reward factor. In Test cricket, he has scored at more than a-run-a-ball with it (129 runs from 113 balls) and been dismissed on six occasions.

Since ending a period of limited returns with a series-winning, unbeaten 98 in New Zealand last year, Carey has been on a wonderful run across formats, so there is plenty of credit in the bank. He has also been outstanding behind the stumps, which made his dropped catch perhaps the more surprising mis-step.

In the fifth over of South Africa's innings, Mulder edged a drive against Mitchell Starc, Carey only had to move fractionally to his right but the ball burst through his gloves. Starc had started celebrating in anticipation of the wicket but had to hastily abort.

"I think it was just one of those ones that swung a little bit on him, which can happen with the Dukes ball," Steven Smith said. "You quite often see the ball go past the bat and swing late. It was one of those ones that just swung a little bit on him and got himself in a bit of an awkward position with where it got to his chest.

"It's a tricky place to catch behind the wicket sometimes when the ball does that. He's been keeping so well the last two years. We're all allowed to drop one every now and again."

Meanwhile, Smith did not expect batting to become too much easier as the game progresses after the opening day produced 14 wickets, nine of which came in the last session.

"It might take a bit more spin as the game wears on," he said. "It's pretty dry. The seam might go down as the game goes on as well, potentially. I think the bounce is going to be variable throughout the game, as we've seen already on day one.

"I think we're in a good spot, we probably had a few missed opportunities with the bat to try and get a bigger total but I think the wicket's offered something all day as we've seen and we're in a pretty good position, 169 in front when they're four down. Hopefully it does a little bit in the morning like it did today."