Australia’s Alex Carey was immediately booed by England fans on the first day of the first Test match of The Ashes series Down Under. The reaction came despite some promises from the Barmy Army that he wouldn’t be heckled.
The reception for Carey was fired his way after his part in the controversial dismissal of Jonny Bairstow in the Lord’s Test back in the 2023 Ashes series. The Australian stumped the England man at the end of an over when the ball was just about deemed to be still alive.
The incident led to tempers flaring and a debate over if it was in the spirit of the game. Since then, Carey has been on the end of jeers from England fans.
An estimated 10,000 away fans were in attendance at the first Test in Perth. It’s expected that number will only grow as the series goes on, with up to around 40,000 supporting the away team out in Australia.
With Australia at 76-5, Carey came out to bat following the dismissal of Travis Head in the 30th over. Boos could be heard as Carey made his way out, with TNT Sport commentator Alastair Eykyn saying: “The Barmy Army promised they wouldn’t boo him. They weren’t telling the truth. A good reception from him.
“He’s been in good form for Australia, a lot of valuable, crucial runs from these kinds of situations.”
Carey scored 26 runs from 26 balls before being caught by Brydon Carse from the bowling of England captain Ben Stokes. He was the fourth of Stokes’ five wickets of the innings so far, with the dismissal leaving Australia on 121-8 at the time.
Before the end of play, Stokes got his fifth wicket when Harry Brook caught Scott Boland out. The day ended with Australia on 123-9, 49 runs behind England’s first innings total of 172.
Ahead of the match to kick off the series, Carey responded to the claims from Barmy Army Coordinator Alison Foskett that he will not be heckled by the travelling support. “That’s nice of them,” he said.
“I don’t know if that will stand for the whole series, but I know from watching Ashes series growing up, you’ve got your heroes, you’ve got your villains, depends which side of the fence you sit on, and what makes it so special is that we’ve got amazing Australian fans supporting us and you’ve got English fans supporting them.
“Whatever it looks like in between, it makes for great viewing, so, I’m excited. It should be amazing.”
The second day of the first Test is set to start on Saturday morning at around 2.20am UK time and continue until around 9.30am.
