Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Australia batter Alex Carey dedicated his century to his late father and family as he steered the hosts to a dominant position of 326/8 against England at the end of the opening day of the third Test at Adelaide Oval on December 17. After a shaky start, which saw Australia slump to 94/4 soon after lunch, Carey, along with the last-minute addition of Usman Khawaja, added 91 runs for the fifth wicket to rescue Australia. Carey scored 106 off 143 balls. The South Australian, whose father Gordon died in September after a protracted battle with cancer, looked up to the sky after notching up his third Test century.
“You know the reasons why – I’m probably a bit emotional now,” Carey, who survived a controversial caught-behind review on 72, told reporters. “It was obviously a really good feeling to score a hundred on home soil.
“Family and friends were here… they would have been proud. They love coming to the cricket and watching me play. My kids are here, Eloise and mum and nieces – it would have been a really nice moment for them. “We were in a little bit of a sticky situation there straight after lunch as well. So to form a partnership with Uzzie and, I guess, keep us in the fixture … was great. “I would have loved to have scored more runs and been there a bit longer. But to be able to take the helmet off and look up to the heavens, it was a really nice moment.”