Carberry is repaying faith of England’s selectors

Carberry combined with captain Eoin Morgan in a stand of 104 as England recovered, after Clint McKay’s hat-trick, to pull off a chase of 227 all out.

The three-wicket victory in Cardiff owed even more perhaps to Jos Buttler’s second consecutive ODI fifty – but either way, opener Carberry’s reward for his effort is the opportunity to push for a 2-1 series success in front of his home crowd at the Ageas Bowl today.

The Hampshire left-hander, whose sole Test match came against Bangladesh in Chittagong three-and-a-half years ago, had hoped to make his Twenty20 international debut in Southampton earlier this month.

England stuck with former Hampshire batsman Michael Lumb and Alex Hales for that match – but after a sticky start to his ODI career, 32-year-old Carberry will have his chance in his most familiar surroundings after all this afternoon.

Carberry’s first three ODI innings had brought him just 15 runs.

After adding a crucial 63 in Wales, he said: “I was pleased I got myself in, still my first ODI series, and got a few runs in a winning cause.

“I still think it was half a job done, though. So I’ve something to work on to make sure, if I get in, I can be finishing it off next time.”

Carberry had to contend not just with McKay at the SWALEC Stadium but the fearsome pace of Mitchell Johnson, who sent down one delivery which was too hot to handle at 94mph and lobbed high above his head off his glove and then safely to ground before wicketkeeper or close fielders could converge.

That dicey moment, on eight, was one of very few – and Carberry believes he has his long apprenticeship with Hampshire, and Surrey and Kent too, to thank for his calmness under pressure.

“Sometimes that is the beauty of having played a lot of first-class cricket,” Carberry said. “Yes, it’s only your fourth one-day international, but you’re not totally fazed by someone bowling very well.

“It was a tough situation, with the series on the line as well. It was satisfying to weather the storm early on, then get into our stride and set it up nicely for Jos down the end.

“We just kept saying ‘we’ve got to bat at least 20-odd overs’, calm things down and take the sting out of it.”

It was a similar story of refusing to buckle mentally after his earlier failures at the top of the order, including a hapless run-out for just one in the rain-wrecked match at Edgbaston last week.

When the going gets tough, Carberry has a bank of more than 10,000 first-class runs – including a triple-century – to keep his confidence intact.

“When you get three low scores early on, of course you’re disappointed,” he said.

“But there is a difference between being disappointed and then carrying that disappointment round with you into the next game.

“I was determined not to do that, and I think what I’ve done well is stay positive.”

He was also intent on repaying the faith of selectors and coach Ashley Giles, who made it clear throughout he would be sticking with him as Kevin Pietersen’s opening partner in this series.

“The management have been great, backing me all the way, and I’m pleased I’ve started to prove them right,” Carberry said.

“I knew there was nothing much to worry about, in terms of how I was going. If you get a good ball or... these things can happen.”

There is another group of people to whom Carberry is especially grateful, of course – his supporters and well-wishers at Hampshire – and he is hoping to do them proud. There have been so many people at Hampshire who have supported my career, and have always shouted my name in terms of playing for England.

“If I can get runs in front of my home crowd, and I hope we can win, it will be a nice way to pay them back.”

Jos Buttler confirmed after his innings at the SWALEC Stadium that he always felt he had the situation under control.

“We were always confident,” said Buttler, who was joined by Stokes on 144-6.

“The run-rate wasn’t too out of hand, and I knew if I was there at the end we wouldn’t be very far away.”

There were some scrapes – including a DRS escape on eight when Buttler overturned an lbw decision against him, and then two close calls for run-outs later on.

“We could have improved on our calling,” he added.

“But I think we were quite calm. I’ve played quite a bit of cricket with Ben growing up, and that helps.

“I’ve played enough cricket now to know when it’s getting out of hand. It’s just pick your bowlers, pick your moments and hope it comes off in your favour.”

If England had not kept a review in reserve, Buttler would have been out cheaply to Shane Watson, and he admits he is relieved to be repaying the faith shown in him by England selectors who recognised his potential so young.

Teams for today’s fifth NatWest Series one-day international between England and Australia at the Ageas Bowl, starting at 2pm.


England (from): EJG Morgan (Captain), KP Pietersen, MA Carberry, IJL Trott, JE Root, RS Bopara, JC Buttler (wkt), BA Stokes, JC Tredwell, ST Finn, WB Rankin, CJ Jordan


Australia (from): MJ Clarke (Captain), AJ Finch, PJ Hughes, SR Watson, GJ Bailey, AC Voges, MS Wade (wkt), JP Faulkner, MG Johnson, NM Coulter-Nile, CJ McKay, GJ Maxwell, F Ahmed, JR Hazlewood

Umpires: A Dar (Pak) and R Bailey

Third umpire: S Ravi (Ind)

Match referee: J Crowe (NZ)

Back trouble is threatening Clarke’s farewell

Australia captain Michael Clarke has suffered a recurrence of his chronic back problem and is doubtful for the NatWest Series decider against England at the Ageas Bowl.

The tourists already know they will have to make one enforced change to Saturday’s defeated line-up and it seems likely they will recall opener Phil Hughes in place of Shaun Marsh – who is ruled out after hurting his hamstring in the fourth match of five in Cardiff.

After England levelled the series at 1-1 there, Clarke is still hoping to play but will be allowed to do so only if he is thought fully fit. Coach Darren Lehmann spelled that out as he assessed Australia’s selection options.

“It’s a big game. But if he’s not right, we won’t risk him,” 
Lehmann said of his captain Clarke.

“It’s an important series, but we’ve got another one-day series (against India) and an Ashes series coming up.”

As for Hughes, who last played for Australia in the second Test at Lord’s, the coach added: “We’ll look at the pitch, but I think that’s the probably the way we’d go.

“It gives him an opportunity. He’s playing really well and working on his game, and that’s all we can ask.

“He’s ready to go. We hope he gets his chance and away he goes.”

Should Clarke be unavailable, Australia may call all-rounder Glenn Maxwell into their squad for the first time in the series, with room too perhaps for the return of leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed in the Tour’s climax.

Australia have endured a disappointing tour, an early exit in the Champions Trophy followed by a 3-0 Ashes defeat and then a 1-1 draw in two Twenty20s.

Lehmann said: “It gets down to a grand final set-up now – which is great.

“That’s what we want the players put under most of the time, although you would have loved to close out the series (in Cardiff),” he said.

“We’re certainly playing the right brand of cricket. We just made a couple of elementary mistakes.

“Apart from that, we’ve pretty much played how we want to play.”

He added: “Now the case is we want to finish on a high and get moving on.”

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