"I actually deleted Instagram for a week or so" - Alex Carey reveals extent of vile abuse from England fans towards him and his family during Ashes 

Australian wicket-keeper Alex Carey spoke about how he and his family were subjected to online abuse by England fans, which eventually led to an investigation from Cricket Australia's cyber police. He was caught in the eye of the storm after dismissing England's Jonny Bairstow in controversial fashion during the Lord's Test in the 2023 Ashes.

Carey was subject to a hostile reaction for the rest of the series by the English crowd, particularly at Leeds, where a section of fans even removed their shoes upon the wicket-keeper's arrival to the crease.

He had a solid series with the gloves, but faded a little when it comes to performances with the bat. The left-handed batter ended with 200 runs in the series at an average of 22.22.

Carey revealed that the backlash was severe following the Bairstow incident and he had to delete his Instagram account for a brief while as well. He told Australian media outltets:

“There was a lot of nasty comments that came my way, or came the family’s way, so post incident it was pretty aggressive and something new as well. I haven’t had that animosity come my way so that was new. It’s not uncommon for us players to receive these, but there was just a few more on this occasion."

Carey felt that he did not want his family to see the extent of the abuse he was receiving on social media. He added:

"I didn’t really look into it much, I didn’t have to. I had a lot of people looking at it and monitoring it. You don’t really need to see them. A lot of comments got deleted. It did get pretty nasty from reports. Initially again, if your wife jumps online and you see (you) getting abused or even them getting abused for being your wife and kids, you probably don’t take it too well."

The 32-year-old continued:

"But 24 hours or 48 hours after that, things simmer down and you understand you’ve done nothing wrong and nothing changes. I actually deleted Instagram for a week or so and just put the phone down and focused on being present with the family.”

Carey's teammate Usman Khawaja had also recently shed light over the hostile nature of the English crowds over the course of the entire series. The veteran opening batter was even involved in a confrontation with a member in the iconic Long Room at Lord's, shortly after Bairstow's dismissal.

“Would I try and execute the dismissal again? Yeah, I would” - Alex Carey

The wicket-keeper's presence of mind has not only been backed by his skipper Pat Cummins, but also the rule book. He quickly threw the ball at the stumps when Bairstow left the crease even when the ball was not dead.

Carey stated that he would dismiss a batter once again if caught venturing out of the crease. He said:

“It’s a stumping and I would always try and get a stumping if it’s available. I think the only thing that makes it somewhat questionable if you want to say that, it was the end of the over. So there might be people having their say on Jonny maybe thought it was the end of the over."

He further stated:

“But the trend was shown throughout that over (with Bairstow leaving his crease). Once it goes up to the third umpire and they deem it to be still live (the umpires had not called over), then that’s how I determine spirit of cricket. Respect the umpire’s decision.”

While the infamous dismissal at Lord's paved the way for Australia to claim a 2-0 series lead, they could only return home with a drawn result as England made a remarkable comeback in the last three tests.