Alex Carey’s wicketkeeping masterclass at the Gabba impresses greats Ian Healy, Adam Gilchrist and Brad Haddin

In early 1988, Queensland standout Test wicketkeeper Peter Anderson broke his finger while standing against England great Ian Botham in a Shield match. Healy made his first-class debut in the next match and wore the baggy green jersey in Pakistan months later. Anderson moved states to continue his career.

Wicketkeepers are said to do their best work when they remain undetected. Not that much, Carey. Channel 7 released a video highlighting Carey’s craft in the second Ashes Test on social media. Viewed 386,000 times.

Carey’s performance at the Gabba stunned his captain Steve Smith, earned high praise from glove greats Healy and Gilchrist and enthralled a nation of cricket enthusiasts.

At least the grumpy prediction of England pacer Stuart Broad, who said immediately after Carey’s controversial defeat of Jonny Bairstow that this would be all the South Australian would be remembered for, has proven wrong.

The courage it took to do what Carey did

If the Bairstow incident highlighted Carey’s mastery, then the Gabba was all about her artistry and grit.

It is common for a wicketkeeper to be very fast for up to medium pacers, as Michael Neser and Scott Boland do, but less so for quick strikers in the 130km/h medium to high speed range. At this speed, they have only a few hundredths of a second to react to any deflection from the pitch or bat.

Healy occasionally caught up with Steve Waugh’s agile seamers in the 1990s, when goalkeepers were not required to wear helmets as they are now. He said there was a “high level of anxiety” about what could go wrong.

“You’ve got to get over it, I don’t know how long it’s going to take,” Healy said. “I don’t think I did it long enough to get over it. I would do it for little bits, maybe here and there.”

“HE [Carey] He’s probably gotten over the anxiety and lost track of the number of fingers he can break, either I could get injured there, or something could happen on the leg side and you start thinking too much instead of watching the ball and worrying about what’s going to happen.

“There’s a concern that even though the ball is coming so fast, the batsman is still coming your way. Forget the batsman, forget the speed of the ball and just be ready for it. The important thing is to get through it.”

Gilchrist paced Glenn McGrath in the 2007 Ashes; meanwhile a great player had lost a yard of his speed but still possessed unerring accuracy. He said the toughest situation is when the batsmen move.

“I don’t want to sound flippant about it, but at this speed you generally get a good vantage point,” Gilchrist said.

As for Carey’s performance at the Gabba, Gilchrist cheekily described it as “maid porn” in an Instagram post.

“You practice on rare occasions to be able to accept that responsibility and have the right technique. It took a lot of courage for Harry Brook to start playing on a short ramp in front of you,” he said.

“The bouncer he had to jump so high took a lot of courage to do that. Being sharp and exciting, there’s nothing easy about it. That’s what you train for; I hope one day you’ll get your chance.”

Technical

It is doubtful that the 137,152 people who passed through the turnstiles at the Gabba were as impressed by Carey as by Healy. He and Haddin likened Carey’s performance to that of Invincible Don Tallon, who is considered by many to be Australia’s best glove technician.

Melting a cricket ball in the gloves is about much more than seeing the ball and receiving it. It starts with squatting and moving into what Healy describes as a “power position.”

“You can’t move by squatting,” Healy said. “You just come in with a touch. If you go too high, you can’t move powerfully sideways. If you don’t go high enough, you can’t move, you waddle like a duck.”

“He’s found his power position. He’s moving to take balls close to first slip without even realizing how wide they are. He’s floating beautifully because he’s got all that power in his glutes and quads because he’s in a perfect power position to move left or right.”

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“You don’t see him diving very much anymore unless he’s extremely wide. It looks effortless but it’s not; there’s a lot of work that goes into it. It takes hours of practice to get it that way.”

Healy said the catch Carey took to remove Ben Stokes spoke volumes about his skill and courage.

“Not only did he do such a great job, but I was also really pleased that he was laid off,” Healy said. “It’s really hard to feel an edge and not have time to change anything other than tighten your hands a little bit. He didn’t. He stayed soft and went in because he had such good technique.”

“And no trust. No sitting up too quickly or too hastily, no tensing everything when you hit, no jumping into the air. He stayed down, which goes against all your natural instincts.”

“His training has brought him to the point where he can suppress all his natural instincts and concentrate on the ball and receive it. That’s very good.”

Surviving the first shot, Smith had the best seat in the room at the goalie display. He marveled at Carey’s skill, which was revealing in itself, considering his prowess on the field.

“He finds a way to get the ball in his hands,” Smith said. “[It] It hits the batsman’s pads and somehow ends up in his hands.

“When I was skating, when he got close to the stumps, I was so wide because of how much ground he was covering. He gets his hands out there, like he knows he’s going to nick every now and then, so he gets his hands out there. That catch performance was as good as I’ve ever seen.”

They say practice makes perfect, but Carey doesn’t specifically train for obstacles.

“I train the fundamentals and the basics and then hope for the best,” Carey said this week. “I won’t go all the way to the stumps of a bowler 130[km/h] on networks – no.

“Just do my drills and go about your business… once you get into the thick of the game your instincts take over a little more.”

Why did he do this?

There needs to be a compelling reason to move towards the stumps, a position where getting the regulating edges becomes difficult and the risk of injury increases.

Boland and Neser are famous for their metronomic lines and lengths. By leaving the crease, the batsman can confuse his radar and turn the bowlers’ strength into weakness. If the wicketkeeper stands against the stumps, the batsman can only advance at the risk of being stumped.

“They can definitely eliminate the thought of the batsman walking down the crease and hitting them off the line,” said Gilchrist, Kayo Sport’s Ashes news commentator.

“This plays a big part in supporting your bowler to come up with their plans and execute their plans to the best of their ability.

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“It was a huge tactical play and one where he was obviously well prepared and defined. That allowed them to be successful.” [England] replace what is quite natural.

Healy believes Carey is the best goalkeeper in the world. No glovemaker has come close to Carey’s 84 layoffs since the beginning of last year. The next best name is Jamie Smith, who shocked Brisbane with 60 points.

“He is absolutely the best,” Healy said. “I can’t think of anyone in the same league as Alex Carey.”

What about Carey the kicker?

It will surprise many to learn that Carey has been scoring at a higher strike rate than India’s dynamic wicketkeeper/batsman Rishabh Pant since the start of last year.

At a time when Australia’s front-line batsmen were struggling, Carey often bailed his team out of trouble with his counter-attacking batting in the middle order; He won the match for Australia with a score of 98 against New Zealand in Christchurch last year and retained his place in the team.

“He is a very busy, classy looking player,” said Gilchrist, the best wicketkeeper/batsman the game has ever seen.

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“If you give him protection, he can play it as well as Mike Hussey. Some of his shots make a statement to the opponent.”

With Carey playing, Healy believes the best is still yet to come.

“I think the next four years will be as good as we’ve ever seen,” Healy said.

“He’s spent the last four to five years getting to this point, which is perfectly fine. He’s got some really good times ahead of him.”