Cricket: Alex Carey will captain Australia against the West Indies after injury to Aaron Finch

Alex Carey will become the 26th Australian one-day cricket captain after an injury to Aaron Finch in the West Indies.

The South Australian will skipper the Aussies in the opening one-day international on Wednesday after Finch was ruled out with a knee injury sustained while batting in the fifth T20 International in St Lucia last Friday.

His fitness for the remaining two matches of the one-day series will be assessed daily.

Read Next

Carey, 29, and Pat Cummins were joint vice-captains of the white ball sides for three years until the fast bowler assumed the role as a stand-alone last August.

With Cummins not on this tour, Carey was to be vice-captain of the one-day squad after Matthew Wade assumed the role in the T20 series.

“I am deeply honoured to be able to lead the team while Aaron recovers. To captain Australia is one of the greatest privileges in sport and an honour I am extremely thankful to receive,” Carey said.

“Finchy is our captain and we will welcome him back with open arms when he is fully fit, so for now I hope I can fill the role to his extremely high standards.

“To lead this group against the West Indies in the West Indies is a great challenge and one I very much look forward to for as long as I have the opportunity.”

Carey, who has captained the Adelaide Strikers, the South Australian Redbacks and Australia A in the past, has played 42 ODIs and made his maiden century against England last year.

Australian coach Justin Langer said Carey had been a “fantastic leader” since he became a mainstay of the limited overs squad.

“For a long period of time Alex has shown an extremely high level of professionalism and discipline as a fantastic leader within this group,” Langer said.

“The injury to Finchy gives Alex the opportunity of his first experience as captain. I have no doubt he will do a fantastic job with the support of the other senior players.”

Australia will name Carey’s vice-captain and its final team at the coin toss.

Sydney

Russell Gould is a senior sportswriter with nearly 20 years’ experience across a wide variety of sports including AFL, cricket, golf, rugby league, rugby and horse racing. Starting as a sports reporter at MX, t… Read more

Read Next