Eng vs Aus 2nd ODI – Alex Carey takes his chance to silence the enemy Headingley

“Look, it's never nice to hear things about yourself, but more importantly (I had a problem with) the personal attacks on my family,” he recently told the ABC. “It was unwarranted and disappointing to see.”

“I was aware of it (the crowd), but it's business as usual,” Carey said after being named player of the game. “Once you get into your routine, you block as much as you can and start to get into your innings. I think for most batters, a lot of that noise goes away and you're pretty focused, and that's the position. “I'm happy to get into that, aren't you? I think Smudge (Smith) always gets it, I was prepared for it. So it happened.

“I've been on the bench for the Australian team in ODIs for the last short while and it's nice to get back out there. An opportunity arose; Who knows how long I’ll last, but it was great fun.”

Alex Carey

Carey came in behind Marnus Labuschagne's wicket and soon saw Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell leave Australia at 161 for 6. He added a lively 55 with Aaron Hardie before three more quick wickets took the visitors to 221 for 9 in the 37th over. Carey had 32 off 29 balls and looked like he was going to fall by the wayside. But he handled things brilliantly alongside Hazlewood, refusing singles late into the over and choosing his moments to find the boundary.

“(It's) probably the longest break I've had since playing professional cricket and spending that time with the family, two young children, brings a lot of energy back,” he said. “I had quite a bit of time just to hit the nets and I haven't done that for a while. It's great to get back into the gaming scenario. Even though it's been almost six months, it doesn't feel like it.” Once you're out there and the competitive juices come back, it feels like the other day.

“The situation required a little bit of perseverance for a while, and then Hoff did a great job the way he persevered.”

Marsh felt Australia came up a little short by scoring 270, but was happy with the way the team fought. “It really shows that those little partnerships on the backend with your tailenders are critical in times like this,” he said. “Real thanks for Kez (Carey) coming back and Hoff staying for a nice foursome that didn’t get eliminated.”

Carey rounded off his impressive display with a deft leg catch that saw him dive full-length to his left, denying Liam Livingstone and giving Hardie a hat-trick. “Not a nice way out, but nice to be the goalie when you hold them,” he said.

A few minutes earlier, at the post-game presentation, Carey was asked if he might just want to keep Inglis' seat warm. “He is a great young player, he showed that in the T20 series earlier in this tour,” he said. “I've been on the bench for the Australian team in ODIs for the last short while and it's nice to get back out there. An opportunity arose; Who knows how long I’ll last, but it was great fun.”

Probably a little more fun than his last visit to Headingley.