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Should Matthew Wade quit 'keeping?

6th April, 2014
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Matthew Wade has made it back into the Aussie side, and should stay until the Ashes. (AFP Photo/William West)
Expert
6th April, 2014
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Could prolific NSW opener Ryan Carters have set an example to be followed by his former Victorian teammate Matthew Wade?

Carters moved to NSW in the last off-season in an effort to get greater opportunities. The young wicketkeeper had spent several seasons on the fringe of the Victorian Shield side, making occasional appearances, averaging mid-20s with the bat.

In the course of moving states he had to ditch the gloves, due to Peter Nevill being entrenched as NSW ‘keeper, and reinvent himself as a specialist batsman. The results were spectacular. Across nine first-class matches this summer he churned out 922 runs at an average of 58. He is now a serious contender to succeed Test opener Chris Rogers when he retires.

Should Wade follow a similar path and shed the gloves to try to exploit his considerable gifts with the blade? At just 26 years old, he has a huge amount of cricket ahead of him. Brad Haddin may be on the cusp of retirement but competition to replace him will be fierce.

21-year-old Western Australia gloveman Sam Whiteman has just completed an extraordinary Shield season. Peter Nevill continues to impress behind the stumps and with the bat for NSW. Tasmanian veteran Tim Paine has long been a darling of the national selectors. Queensland’s Chris Hartley is highly regarded by Australian coach, and former Bulls’ mentor, Darren Lehmann.

That is a lot of talent pushing to fill just one spot. Meanwhile, batting positions have continually been opening up in the Australian top six.

Of the current batting line-up, David Warner and Steve Smith are the only players you could predict with confidence will still be there in two to three years’ time.

Wade may have a better chance of getting back into the Test side via the top six. It was his glovework, not his batting, which saw him dumped for Haddin prior to the Ashes in England. His shoddy work behind the stumps had been laid bare during the disastrous 4-0 whitewash against India early last year. Over the duration of his 12 Tests, Wade’s ‘keeping actually appeared to worsen.

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It is a long, long way short of what is required at Test level, particularly in a team ranked second in the world and making a bull run for the top spot. The Victorian’s efforts standing up to the spinners were particularly poor. It is a running joke among Australian fans to recalculate Nathan Lyon’s Test average by taking into account all the chances missed off him by Wade.

But Wade did show tremendous promise with the bat. His return of 623 runs at 35, including two centuries, was very solid. Prior to that ill-fated tour of India, on which every Australian batsman floundered bar Michael Clarke and Smith, he had averaged 43 in his first nine Tests.

Notably, his two hundreds were both made in his side’s first innings and under pressure. In his third Test, against the West Indies in Dominica, he came to the crease with the Aussies in a crisis at 5-157 (and soon after 7-169).

Wade batted intelligently with the tail. He exercised extreme caution to halt the Windies’ momentum, making just 24 from his first 83 balls as he got himself well set. The left-hander then unleashed, carving 82 from his following 63 balls to help Australia set a good first-innings total of 328. They went on to win a tight contest by 75 runs. Wade’s ton was the difference.

Then, the next Australian summer, he made another pivotal century, this time against Sri Lanka at the SCG. In that Test, Wade batted at six as the Aussies experimented with using Mitchell Johnson as an all-rounder.

The match was in the balance, with Australia at 5-271 in their first dig, still trailing Sri Lanka by 23. By the time Wade was finished, Australia were overwhelming favourites to triumph, having secured a lead of 138.

Wade’s first-class record is 3864 runs at 39 with seven tons. That is as good as those boasted by the likes of Alex Doolan, Shaun Marsh and George Bailey, all of whom have played as specialist batsmen in the Test side recently.

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He is a fine player of pace bowling and is equally strong off the front or back foot. His handling of spin can improve, but he is not alone there among Australian batsmen. The unknown is how Wade’s batting would develop were he to be freed of the physical and mental burden of ‘keeping.

Would his batting returns improve significantly as they did for Carters and for Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara, who has averaged 70 in the Tests in which he hasn’t had to keep?

Who knows? But, for Wade, it may be a risk worth taking.

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