The selectors' obsession with Matthew Wade continues

Wade again terrible with the gloves in the 4th ODI in Canberra. Grassed one sitter and another chance that most keepers would have taken easily (because most keeper's aren't midgets).

Wade just grassed a routine chance against Kumar. Replay not pretty - moved late, slow and it bounced straight off his thumb. Had plenty of time by their standards. Not doing his keeping credentials any favours. Also, has anyone else noticed how many throws back to the stumps he drops as well - the routine ones, when there's no run outs on. Just bounce out of his gloves on the ground, have seen a couple tonight. Doesn't take much pride in his work!

Wades skills as a batsman are not as important as his skills as a keeper. He has shown to be a poor or at least inconsistent keeper, especially against spin. The team has enough good batsman for 20/20 and some good bowlers who can hit so the team needs a keeper. At 6 or 7 he might not bat much anyway, but he will keep for 20 overs and can have a big impact on the game there.

Bancroft an inferior keeper to Wade? What are you watching?

Why is nobody mentioning Ludeman? Better keeper than all of them, and top 5 in runs this season. Iv realise his strike rate hasnt matched bbl04, but he is clearly the best option. Wade is a flaky (with bat and gloves) impatient player. Handscombs batting has been poor this season, Paine and Ludeman are the only two sane choices, maybe Nevill

Is Bancroft a better opening optiopn than Finch, S Marsh, Warner and Watson? No. Certainly not in twenty twenty! Is he better suited to batting down the order than Wade? He is not. He is ofcourse an inferior keeper to Wade.

What about Bancroft? Opening bat that almost played for Aus in Bangladesh. Keeping well in big bash. Picking all of Hogg's deliveries.

WTF is Scott Boland still doing in those line-ups? He is terrible. There are at least five quicks better than him. I don’t think Aussies are serious about winning T20 WC. And Bailey should be in the squad. He’s in great touch and has heaps of experience. Also Tait shouldn’t be in, he’s just no good anymore. Where is Pattinson?

Hartley's form the previous BBL was great. Why do people think Wade bats well? Haven't Paine, Ludeman, Dunk and Bancroft all done better?

In fairness to Wade... his selection is probably because he is the incumbent in the T20 side and Australian selectors tend to let the incumbent keeper have a decent run at it. The fact Australia plays so few T20 internationals makes this easy to overlook. This is a bit like when he was picked in the current 50 over squad and people questioned why - well it was because he was the current one day keeper, and his most recent one day series was actually a pretty good one, hence he kept his place. So I'm not surprised he has been picked. However if he fails in these upcoming internationals and retains his place in the World T20 squad, then I will be. Also, secondary to the subject matter, but Shane Watson was never 'recalled' to the T20 squad. I don't get the prevailing opinions on Watson in limited overs cricket - IMO he's a gun and we are lucky to have him available for the World T20.

Haha there are some pretty clear Matthew Wade haters here. It is simple why he is in the side, he is the best better of the keepers, his recent ODI form in england earlier this year proves that. Keepers do not need to be good keepers to play a T20. Peter Nevill is by far the best keeper in Australia which is why he plays in the test side. Its just pretty clear the bloke who wrote this and Ryan buckland just hate wade for some reason. They'll say its because he's not the best but there's something deeper and to be honest we should be more concerned as to why Khawaja, the most in form t20 player is not in the squad or why james pattinson isnt playing more and the answer is simple. When the selectors have to pick between say scott "rubbish" boland and james pattinson, the selectors say, "well we picked pattinson in the test side so its ok if we dont pick him because he gets to play the tests". Rod Marsh is beyond woeful.

I would be really interested to see the % of batsman dismissed caught keeper and the average number of byes given per game across all T20 matches played. In international T20's keepers rarely average more than 1 dismissal per game (catches and stumpings combined). Kumar Sangakarra for example played 56 international T20 matches and recorded 26 catches and 19 stumpings. The role of keepers in T20 isn't as significant as it is being made out.

I think I won't be the only one counting how many chances he muffs during the tournament - cannot see him now being good enough to keep to spinners in India, based on his history. No idea how they keep picking this spud.

I had thought this was the case for a while, but after watching pretty much every BBL game for the past three seasons (in conjunction with a reasonable dose of international cricket) I'm now of the mind that having a good keeper is pretty crucial. I'm going to do something I think it pretty cool for the BBL final by way of fielding and stats, watch out for that next Monday.

Short, sweet and spot on. Matthew Wade is selected because Matthew Wade is always selected; forget his awful form with both bat and gloves this year.

I can't stand Matt Wade, but his batting in short form cricket justifies his selection. His keeping is terrible, awful... but he's still a better keeper than Peter Handscomb. Tim Paine has not set the world on fire this season, a couple of decent innings but that's all and he doesn't have the same ability to improvise with the bat either. You cannot afford to carry a keeper that bats a bit in a T20 side.. just look at Chris Hartley's season with the Thunder this year. You could gamble of someone like Jimmy Peirson but he's a hard hitting opener rather than a guy that can come in later and score in weird areas, and our top order is pretty much settled. On team balance alone Wade deserves his selection. He really is a horrible keeper though...

Actually in T20, where wrist spin is the must have toy, you do want a quality keeper. Wade almost ended Lyon's career before it started, you shudder what he might to do Boyce etc.

I'd just get a batsman to wear the gloves and play an extra all rounder. It's not as though the keeper is going to see the ball a lot.

Paine or even Handscomb should have got the nod over Wade. Paine should have been picked for the ODIs. What does the Tasmanian have to do to convince selectors he is back to the sort of form that had him earmarked to be the test keeper a few years ago.That was before the terrible finger injury that lopped two years off his career. The only reason I can think of for not going with Paine is that he is not all that proficient against spin with the WC being held in India. Neither is Wade for that matter. But young Handscomb is. But he is only a part time keeper. That could be why he was not chosen.

I believe in picking keepers who could bat. Why? It gives you several options, in that if your keeper could bat in the top 6 , a Faulkner type all rounder can bat at 7 and it provides you the opportunity of picking a good all rounder at 8. The key term there is a keeper who provides some flexibility to the batting lineup ( can bat 5, 6 or 7). Do I believe Paine is the answer?Absolutely not! There isn't any keeper at domestic level you would have confidence in batting in the top 6 for Australia, with the exeption of Handscomb or Wade.I believe they are reluctant to consider Handscomb because he is one of the few young batting prospects who could very well play as a specialist batsman in the test team.So when you consider that, you are led to conclude Wade is the best option by a mile, which says more about the other options than Wade limited overs batting. I fully expect Whiteman to put his hand up in a few years time. He is the most talented wicket keeper batsman we have had since Gilly.