Carey goes from Ashes villain to hero with century in Adelaide heat
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ADELAIDE, Dec 17 - Hometown hero Alex Carey scored his first Ashes century to rescue Australia from a batting meltdown as England's bowlers toiled in an Adelaide Oval cauldron on a scorching opening day of the third test on Wednesday.
Wicketkeeper Carey's 106 helped drive Australia to 326 for eight at stumps, with Mitchell Starc (33 not out) and Nathan Lyon, scoreless off 18 balls, having provided stubborn tail-end resistance.
Batting at number four, Usman Khawaja capitalised on his late inclusion in place of an unwell Steve Smith, scoring 82 off 126 balls.
He and Carey combined in a crucial 91-run stand that pulled the hosts from peril after they were reduced to 94 for four straight after lunch.
Trailing 2-0 in the series, England's hopes of keeping the Ashes alive suffered an early blow when home captain Pat Cummins won the toss and put his team into bat on a firm wicket begging for a big score.
By stumps, with the temperature still hovering around 35 degrees Celsius (95F), England's prospects appeared bleak after Carey and Starc pushed the hosts past 300.
With day two expected to hit 39 degrees, the tourists will be desperate for quick wickets in the morning to avert another punishing day in the field.
MISSED CHANCES
Yet again, England had moments of ascendancy but they were unable to take their chances.
Khawaja was the chief beneficiary, being dropped on three by Harry Brook at second slip with a thick edge off the bowling of recalled paceman Josh Tongue.
A diving Brydon Carse put down a tougher chance to remove Carey for 52 when he smashed Archer into the covers.
Captain Ben Stokes burned two of England's reviews trying to dislodge Carey, first for lbw when he was on 52 and later for a caught-behind appeal on 72.
But he held on stubbornly to raise his third test century from 135 balls and soak up chants of "Carey! Carey!" from the sell-out crowd of 56,298 at his home stadium.
Carey's standing ovation came after he became the villain of the 2023 Ashes for throwing down Jonny Bairstow's stumps in a controversial run-out during the second test at Lord's.
Soon after, though, he was caught for 106 trying to slog-sweep the spin of Will Jacks, sending a top-edge soaring.
It continued a pattern of soft dismissals that kept England buoyed despite the taxing weather.
Both Australia's openers Travis Head (10) and Jake Weatherald (18) fell cheaply in a six-ball burst before the first drinks break.
A driving Head was caught for 10 off seamer Carse, with Zak Crawley diving to his left at short cover to pluck a brilliant one-hander above the grass.
Weatherald fell trying to pull a sizzling Jofra Archer bouncer only to gift an easy catch behind the wicket.
Khawaja and Labuschagne steered Australia to 94 for two at lunch but Labuschagne and new batter Cameron Green threw away their wickets in three balls after the break.
Carse caught both at midwicket off the bowling of Archer in near-identical dismissals. REUTERS
