Alex Carey

During the Sheffield Shield final, he took his 59th dismissal of the tournament, a record for wicket-keeper in a single Sheffield Shield season.

Alex Tyson Carey (born 27 August 1991) is an Australian international cricketer.

Formerly an Australian rules footballer, he is currently a wicket-keeper who plays for the Australian national team in test match and one day formats.

In domestic cricket, he plays for South Australia and Adelaide Strikers.

In 2008, Carey was included in South Australia's squad for the 2008 AFL Under 18 Championships, but he did not play any game.

He was also in the AIS/AFL Academy intake for 2008.

He continued to advance in 2009 and played for South Australia in the 2009 AFL Under 18 Championships in addition to winning the SANFL reserves premiership with Glenelg.

He was the captain of the Greater Western Sydney Giants in 2010, but when they joined the Australian Football League in 2012, he was left out of the squad and returned to his home state of South Australia, where he began to play domestic cricket.

Carey turned down a rookie contract offer from the South Australian Cricket Association and moved to Sydney in 2010 to join the Australian Football League's (AFL) new expansion club, the Greater Western Sydney Giants, who were playing in the TAC Cup for the season to prepare for their entry into the AFL in 2012.

Carey captained the side, who made it to the finals and, despite missing the final four rounds due to injury, won the team's best and fairest award.

He played for them again in 2011 in the North East Australian Football League, but he wasn't given a place in their inaugural AFL squad for the 2012 season and returned to Adelaide.

When Carey returned to Adelaide, he initially intended to return to the Glenelg Football Club, but he decided to switch sports and went back into grade cricket with the Glenelg Cricket Club for the 2012–13 season.

He started out as a specialist batter and averaged close to 50 for Glenelg in all formats.

His form warranted his first call-up to represent South Australia.

He made his List A cricket debut in a Ryobi Cup match against New South Wales and was also brought into the Sheffield Shield side, making his first-class debut.

He played three Shield matches and averaged only 10.1 in six batting innings as he was dropped from the side.

Carey initially made his debut as a specialist top-order batter in 2013, but was unsuccessful and dropped.

He moved down the batting order and became a wicket-keeper.

Carey was a member of the Australian team that won the 2023 ICC World Test Championship final.

As a teenager, Carey played both Australian rules football and cricket, and as he got older, he started to play football at a higher level, playing for Glenelg in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) reserves competition alongside adults by the time he was 15.

Carey was given a rookie contract with South Australia for the 2013–14 season, though he didn't play a game for the state team during the season.

After his failures as a top-order batter, he became a wicket-keeper and moved down the batting order.

This resulted in him being able to play several matches for South Australia in the Futures League.

His breakout season came in 2015–16, when he scored 822 runs at an average of 90.22 in 10 matches for Glenelg, including big scores of 195 against Adelaide and 151 against West Torrens.

In the Futures League, he averaged 44.13 in his five matches, so he was called up to play for South Australia again in the final four rounds of the 2015–16 Sheffield Shield season, replacing experienced wicket-keeper Tim Ludeman, including an appearance in the Sheffield Shield final.

For the 2016–17 season, Carey was given his first senior contract with South Australia.

This season was by far his most successful yet, as he became just the fourth player to record 500 runs with the bat and 50 dismissals as a wicket-keeper in a single Sheffield Shield season after Chris Hartley, Matthew Wade and Adam Gilchrist.

His improvement resulted in his inclusion in Australia's National Performance Squad in the 2017 off-season, and he was also named as the sole wicket-keeper in the Australia A squad which was meant to tour South Africa for the 2017 South Africa A Team Tri-Series.

He was chosen ahead of former Test keepers Peter Nevill and Tim Paine, indicating he was the next in line to replace Matthew Wade in the Australian Test team if Wade became injured.

Carey started the 2017–18 season playing in the JLT Cup for South Australia, coming close to a maiden century when he scored 92 against Victoria in the elimination final as part of South Australia's fourth-biggest one-day partnership of all time, putting on 212 runs with Jake Weatherald.

As a result of his selection for Australia A and one-day form, Carey went into the 2017–18 Sheffield Shield season as one of the main contenders to play for Australia in the 2017–18 Ashes series.

Though he had only played 18 first-class matches prior to the start of the season, Carey was considered the best young wicket-keeper in Australia.

He had an opportunity to score runs and impress selectors in the first two matches, but he failed to score above fifty before the squad was named, coming close when he scored 46 not out before being stranded without any partners left against Western Australia.

He was overlooked for the team, with Tim Paine being chosen instead.

Despite his failure to make it into the national team, Carey scored his maiden first-class century when he made 139 for South Australia against Queensland.

Later the same month, he was named in Australia's Twenty20 International (T20I) squad for the 2017–18 Trans-Tasman Tri-Series, which started in February 2018.

Carey's 2017–18 Big Bash League season form saw him make his One Day International (ODI) debut for Australia, replacing an ill Tim Paine on 19 January 2018.

He made his T20I debut for Australia against New Zealand on 3 February 2018.

In May 2019, Carey was signed by Sussex County Cricket Club to play in the 2019 t20 Blast tournament in England.

In the 2020 IPL auction, he was bought by the Delhi Capitals ahead of the 2020 Indian Premier League.