Alex Carey has been a man on a mission throughout the Australian summer and it was no different in Perth on Thursday on the eve of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.

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Having secured his spot in the Australian team with a superb effort with the bat against New Zealand across the Tasman Sea in March, the South Australian has been in dashing form on the domestic scene this summer.

Clearly his good form is making the wicketkeeper jump out of bed with a bounce, for the left-handed bat arrived at a non-compulsory session eight minutes before start time at Optus Stadium on Thursday morning.

By that stage the news was out from India that Ravindra Jadeja, who has tormented previous Aussie teams with his left-armed orthodox spin, might be a surprise exclusion from the first Test.

But Carey, who credits his good form for a change in the direction the bottom of his bat is facing in his batting stance, was taking nothing for chance.

Within five minutes he was dealing with a combination of left-arm off spin delivered by Australian assistant coach Lachlan Stevens from around the wicket, along with mid-pitched throw downs directed towards his hips.

Ravindra Ashwin may be preferred to Jadeja. And Stevens is clearly no world-beater with the ball, with due respect to the former South Australian and Queensland representative.

But the Aussie assistant did carry a workload at the final nets session before Australia’s bid to wrestle back the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade as he cycled through the Aussie batters in attendance.

On an atypical morning in Perth – it was cool yet humid and a shower had fallen about 25 minutes before Carey appeared – the majority of the top order finalised their preparations for the task ahead against India.

A little later Australian captain Pat Cummins declared this would be the series that could cement this generation’s status as an outstanding team.

“I think for about half the change room, we haven’t won the Border Gavaskar, so it’s kind of one of the last things to tick off, I think, for a lot of us,” he said.

“I also think we’ve (handled) almost every challenge that we’ve had thrown at us over the last few years. We’ve stepped up and done well and I think to do that for another year, another home summer, would kind of cement this, rather than just being a two or three season thing, it’s suddenly (success) into a half-generation thing.

“So we’re all excited. We know India are right up there with one of the best teams in the world, so we are excited.”

As Carey faced in the middle net, new dads Mitch Marsh and Travis Head batted on either side of him. When Marsh batted against Pakistan in Perth last year, the echo of the ball smashing off the bat and invariably into the fence was distinct from his teammates, so sweet was the timing.

As he faced throw downs from assistant coach Michael Di Veneto, the echo off the bat was no different on Thursday, despite the crispness with which Head and Carey were striking the ball.

He might not be getting much sleep as a new dad, but it did not show on Thursday ahead of the Western Australians home Test.

Cummins stressed in a press conference shortly after the session was completed the importance of the trio as potential match winners this summer.

“From my point of view, (they are) really important. And I’ll throw Alex Carey in there at seven as well. It’s a pretty scary five, six and seven,” he said.

“If they come in and the bowlers already have plenty of overs into them, that’s a pretty scary proposition. And similarly, we’ve seen some counter punches where we’ve been, two or three down, four down, for not many and Marshy has pulled out a hundred, or Heady has pulled out a 100 and changed the dynamics pretty quickly. So I really like … how that middle order has been structured the last couple of years.”

Marsh’s cameo at the crease was brief in what was a relaxed session. An immense series awaits, but there is no point stressing before the first ball is bowled.

By the time Carey swapped into wicketkeeping pads for a stint standing up to the stumps, Marsh was headed back to the locker rooms.

Carey, too, spent only about 40 minutes of the 90-minute session outside before heading off and was replaced in the nets by Steve Smith, who had earlier eyed off the pitch in the middle of the ground and given it a tick of approval.

Head spent the longest time in the nets, though he did leave the session for a period to chatter to a couple of mates among the handful of selectors taking in the casual session.

Debutant Nathan McSweeney looked good while batting. And, yes, he left plenty of throwdowns and was playing with a straight bat, with deliveries whizzing by what would be his fourth stump as the trains whistled alongside the Graham Farmer Freeway that separates Optus Stadium from the Belmont race track.

As per his usual custom, the only Australian batter not to make use of the non-compulsory session was Usman Khawaja, but the 38-year-old knows best how to ready himself for the challenge that comes with opening. And nor did the Aussies bowlers set foot in the nets, with Cummins noting the addition of a fifth Test in the series for the first time made it an even more “rigorous” test of endurance.

Familiarity can breed contentment. And that can lead to bad habits. But the beauty for the Cummins-led team is that because the Border-Gavaskar Trophy has proven elusive, there is a hunger to do things right.

Cummins declared himself to be feeling fitter and stronger than ever before given an extended preparation. But he also feels the consistency surrounding the team will stand Australia in good stead for the summer ahead.

“It is great. It is weird. It has basically been the same side for the last two or three years, so the week leading is very normal. It’s all very relaxed,” he said.

“Everyone knows how they need to prepare, so it’s pretty seamless. You know, all the meetings, training, all those kind of things, we’ve done that heaps before with the same people.

“So it’s just about … reaffirming what we do really well, but I think that’s been one of the strengths of our team, is not only the consistency, but how well everyone gets on and how, how much we love playing together.”