Watch: Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey, playing as a specialist batter, took a diving one-handed catch at mid-on to send England opener Phil Salt packing early in his innings during the Champions Trophy fixture between the two sides in Lahore today (February 22).
Opting to field first, Australia started with an inexperienced new-ball pair since their fast bowling trio of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc is absent from the tournament. After Spencer Johnson leaked 12 off the first over, Ben Dwarshuis came from the other end. The first three balls yielded only a single bringing Salt, batting then on 10 off five balls, on strike.
Australia soon found their first breakthrough courtesy of Carey's excellent outfield catch. Salt tried to clear the on-side off a full-length delivery in the middle but couldn’t connect well. Despite that, the ball was travelling, but Carey moved to his right from mid-on, leapt and plucked the ball out of thin air one-handed.
Carey is not wicketkeeping in the game with Josh Inglis taking the gloves instead. This is only the fourth time in his 78-match ODI career that Carey has not kept wicket. Inglis, however, was Australia's wicketkeeper during the 2023 ODI World Cup and the T20 World Cup last year. Carey was not selected in the T20 World Cup squad and played only one game in the 50-over competition.
Carey picked up another catch soon after: Jamie Smith promoted to No.3 ahead of Joe Root, was looking good, having struck three fours in his first 12 deliveries but he fell to Dwarshuis.
Also Watch: Glenn Phillips takes flying, 'unbelievable' reaction catch to dismiss Mohammad Rizwan
Watch Alex Carey take a blinder at mid-on:
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