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By banking on explosive batsmen for the Champions Trophy, which starts next week, Australia have handed heavy responsibility to in-form keeper-batsman Matthew Wade.
When picking their 15-man squad Australia gambled by ignoring solid batsmen George Bailey, Shaun Marsh and Usman Khawaja in favour of more dynamic strokemakers Aaron Finch and Chris Lynn.
Bailey, Marsh and Khawaja are the kind of batsmen who add balance to a 50-over batting line-up, rotating the strike and protecting their wicket while the big hitters chance their arms.
Australia have only one specialist batsman in their squad, Steve Smith, who looks comfortable anchoring an ODI innings in this way. With cavalier players Finch, Lynn, Glenn Maxwell and David Warner likely to feature in the top five, in any given match Australia could either blast their way to a giant 350-plus total, or they could find themselves wobbling at three-or-four-down-for-not-many.
This is why Wade has suddenly become much more important to Australia’s batting line-up.
The Victorian is perhaps the most maligned player in Australian cricket. While Wade has earned a lot of the criticism hurled at him in the past he also deserves praise for his fantastic ODI performances over the last year.
In his past 20 ODIs, Wade has scored 537 runs at 38, with a good strike rate of 94. He has been a rock at seven in the order for Australia, repeatedly saving them from precarious situations.
The most memorable of those performances was Wade’s match-winning 100no after arriving at the crease at 5-78 against Pakistan in January.
(AFP / Glyn Kirk)
In the final of last year’s Caribbean tri-series tournament against the West Indies, Australia were a mess at 6-173 before Wade coolly compiled 57no from 52 balls to lead them to a winning total of 270.
Later that year, amid the carnage of the 5-0 loss in South Africa, Wade came out with the score at 5-49 and crafted an innings of 52 from 58 balls.
Then, in Sri Lanka, Wade twice played crucial knocks under heavy pressure. In the third match of that ODI series Australia were 4-106 chasing 227 when Wade steadied the innings with a calm 42 on a spinning track.
The previous match Australia had promoted Wade to number five, ahead of Travis Head and Moises Henriques, after a top order collapse left them reeling at 3-41. Wade again displayed impressive composure as he made 76 from 88 balls.
That match was a rare instance of Australia showing flexibility in their batting order when things go wrong.
If they’re dominating, Australia are prepared to change up the order and elevate a powerful striker. But when their top order fails they tend to maintain their batting order, reticent to send in a steadier batsman like Wade ahead of a dasher such as Maxwell.
That must change in this Champions Trophy. Maxwell is definitely in Australia’s best XI but he is not the man to send in at 3-50 if Australia’s gamble on big hitters backfires. In those circumstances Wade is the obvious choice, having shown he has the skill and temperament to rebuild a faltering ODI innings.
Wade shapes as a middle-order insurance policy for Australia. He must float between five and seven in the order depending on the circumstances of the match.
Australia may have the best bowling attack at the Champions Trophy, thanks to the swing of Mitchell Starc, the precision of Josh Hazlewood, the middle-overs wicket-taking prowess of Adam Zampa and the fearsome pace of Pat Cummins and James Pattinson.
But their batting line-up has been unreliable over the past 18 months. In that time it has not performed as well as those of South Africa and England, two of the other favourites for the Champions Trophy.
Australia have the power to win a batting shootout with any team at the tournament. When their aggressive top six fails, however, it is Wade who will be required to stop the rot. In a such a short, unforgiving tournament, this troubleshooting role will be crucial.
At some stage over the next few weeks, Australia’s Champions Trophy hopes may well rest on the blade of the oft-ridiculed keeper.