Clayton Murzello: Carey time for Oz's Ashes squad?

Two weeks before the Ashes series hosts Australia have not decided who their wicketkeeper will beWill it be Tasmanias Matthew Wade who kept during the last series in Bangladesh or Peter Nevill the New South Welshman who was the glovesman during the last Ashes series in 2015 Theres also a good chance that South Australias rising star Alex Carey will make his debut at the Gabba on November 23 Carey set a Sheffield Shield record of 59 victims last season and is rated a very sound wicketkeeperSouth Australias Alex Carey rues a missed chance during Day Four of a Sheffield Shield match against New South Wales last year PicGetty ImagesAustralias former offspinner Ashley Mallett told me yesterday from Adelaide that although the selectors may continue with Wade he would have Carey 26 in the playing XI because he is a far better keeper than Wade And Nevill who is superior to the incumbent according to Mallett has gone out of favourIf Carey is handed a baggy green at the Gabba he will become the first Australian wicketkeeper since John Maclean to be blooded in the opening Test of an Ashes seriesThe inclusion and exclusion stories of Australian wicketkeepers are fascinating right from the countrys first ever Test stumper Jack Blackham who made his debut with all his other teammates against England at Melbourne in 1877 Australias then fast bowler Fred Demon Spofforth refused to play in that inaugural Test since he believed Billy Murdoch was a better man to have behind the stumps However Spofforth changed his opinion of Blackham when he played the second Test of that historic seriesA hundred years later Rod Marsh sat firmly in the seat of Australias first choice wicketkeeper The following season the selectors picked Steve Rixon for the job when Marsh joined Kerry Packers World Series Cricket Rixon kept well against India in 197778 but the selectors included Maclean for the 197879 Ashes opener in Brisbane his home ground The Brisbane fans were delighted about Macleans inclusionEight years earlier Maclean was the local favourite to replace Brian Taber in Bill Lawrys team that took on Ray Illingworths side at the Gabba where the curtains opened for the 197071 Ashes But Don Bradman amp Co picked 23yearold Western Australian Rodney Marsh to become Australias youngest ever wicketkeeper and he didnt enjoy a warm reception from the Brisbane crowd To make matters worse Marsh made a mess of things on the second day of the Test when he dropped key batsmen John Edrich Keith Fletcher and Basil DOliveira The we want MacLean cries got louderBy the time the series progressed to Sydney the cries changed to We want Taber and Marsh got christened Iron Gloves by a journalist Probably the only sympathy Marsh got in that series was when Lawry declared the innings closed in Melbourne with him on 92 But he wasnt too disappointed I wasnt at all upset about it In fact I was so delighted to have at last done something worthwhile in the series that I couldnt have cared less I expected Bill to declare long before so I guess I was lucky to have even reached the nineties Marsh wrote in his autobiography Youll Keep Marsh was grateful to the selectors for persisting with him Had they not he certainly wouldnt have ended up with a record 355 dismissals when he retired from Test cricket in 198384A season before Marsh replaced Taber there was a chance of Ray Slug Jordon keeping wickets for Australia in the Port Elizabeth Test of the 196970 tour of South Africa Captain Bill Lawry asked his vicecaptain Ian Chappell about getting Jordon in the playing XI for the final Test of that series To Lawrys amazement Chappell refused to be in the team in that eventuality Apparently on the earlier tour of India during the South Zone v Australians game at Bangalore Jordan knocked a stump forward and hoodwinked the umpire into believing that Erapalli Prasanna was bowled Thats how Jordan missed out on becoming Australias 18th Test wicketkeeperThirty years later Adam Gilchrist replaced local favourite Ian Healy for the opening Test against Pakistan in Brisbane in 1999 The selectors denied Healy the pleasure of playing his farewell Test in front of his home crowd and that led to a highpressure situation for debutant Gilchrist First he was unpopular for replacing Tim Zoehrer at Western Australia after shifting from New South Wales Then he took Healys place in the oneday sideLike Healy Gilchrist ended up being an alltime great and like all battlescarred stumpers he believes selectors should give their wicketkeepers a decent run before reaching out for the axe Apart from his wicketkeeping and batting abilities Wade is known to be good at sledging It will be a pity if his definitive attribute denies Carey some possible accoladesmiddays group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycom