Alex Carey to lead Australia against WI in Finch's absence
In a major development, Alex Carey is set to lead Australia in the opening ODI against the West Indies. Notably, regular skipper Aaron Finch has been ruled out of the series opener after sustaining a knee injury. The latter suffered the injury while batting in the fifth T20I against West Indies. His availability for the series will be assessed on a "day-to-day basis".
Carey will become the 26th ODI captain for Australia on Tuesday. He was previously a joint-vice-captain of the ODI side until Pat Cummins held the role last year. Carey has also captained Australia A, Adelaide Strikers, and South Australia previously. The left-handed batter is also deemed a possible candidate to captain the Test side when Tim Paine retires.
"I am deeply honored to be able to lead the team while Aaron recovers. To captain Australia is one of the greatest privileges in sport and honor, I am extremely thankful to receive," Carey said. "Finch is our captain and we will welcome him back with open arms. So for now I hope I can fill the role to his extremely high standards."
Australia's head coach Justin Langer said, "For a long period of time Alex has shown an extremely high level of professionalism and discipline as a fantastic leader within this group." "The injury to Finch gives Alex an opportunity for his first experience as captain. I have no doubt he will do a fantastic job with the support of the other senior players," he added.
Carey made his international debut in 2018 against England. He has become a mainstay batsman in the ODI team ever since. As of now, he has racked up 1,091 runs from 42 ODIs at an average of 36.36. The tally includes 1 hundred and 4 fifties. Carey also has 198 T20I runs, and is yet to make his Test debut.
The absence of Finch will affect the already inexperienced Australian side. Several marquee players, including Steve Smith and David Warner, had opted out of the WI tour. Australia recently lost the T20I series 1-4 to WI. They would want to bounce back in the three-match ODI series, starting July 20. Meanwhile, the following two ODIs will be played on July 22 and 24 respectively.
