Carey made a duck against India to extend a poor run of form across formats since the third Test of the 2023 Ashes series. In that time he has averaged 16.76 from 11 innings in Test and ODI cricket, passing 30 just once in that time. While he carried on his one start to make 99, that innings came with the game already done, Australia well behind chasing 417 against South Africa.

Before his current trot, Carey had established himself as a reliable member of Australia’s middle order. He was one of the breakout stars of the 2019 World Cup, averaging 62.50 with the bat, while he averaged 43 in Tests from the moment he fell into a pool during Australia’s Test tour of Pakistan until the third Test of the Ashes.

While the the dip in the water and the rise in form might be coincidence, some have attributed his recent struggles to the fallout from Carey’s controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow during the 2023 Ashes.

“I don’t think he’s looked the same since the Jonny Bairstow stumping,” former Australia keeper Tim Paine said on SEN. “Whether that’s had an effect on him mentally because there was no doubt he copped an absolute barrel over there from everyone. I don’t know if it’s rattled him or if his confidence has dropped off since, but certainly his batting – barring one game in South Africa – he hasn’t looked the same. And I say that, doesn’t look the same, with his body language and his intent, his intent to go out and take the game on from the start.”

Inglis, making his World Cup debut, has played eight ODIs and 12 T20Is with a high score of 50.