Matthew Wade’s Ashes spot hangs by a thread after he conceded a whopping 30 byes and failed with the bat in the first Test against Bangladesh. But Australia’s wicket keeping stocks are worryingly low, with no strong alternative.
There are only two realistic options to replace Wade – one who already had a long Test stint and couldn’t handle the step up to international cricket, and the other an inexperienced cricketer who wasn’t even his State’s first-choice gloveman 18 months ago.
The former is New South Wales veteran Peter Nevill, who performed poorly during his recent 17-Test stint and will be 32 years old by the time the Ashes starts.
The latter is 26-year-old South Australian Alex Carey, who broke the Sheffield Shield record for most dismissals last year, but only averages 26 with the bat in first-class cricket and has limited experience with just 18 matches to his name.
Neither are particularly attractive Test prospects at this stage. The fact that Wade is the incumbent Test keeper, and his two main rivals are not exactly world-class, highlights the poor quality of Australia’s keeping stocks.
Compare that to England, whose keeper Jonny Bairstow has improved his glovework considerably while also piling up almost 2,000 runs at an average of 51 in his past 24 Tests. Or Australia’s next Test foe after the Ashes, South Africa, who boast one of the most valuable players in Test cricket in keeper-batsman Quentin de Kock, a superstar with a career batting average of 45.
Meanwhile, Wade is under enormous pressure, having received fierce backlash from Australian fans and media after his calamitous performance during the first Test loss in Dhaka. As a comparison, Wade’s 30 byes in that Test were almost double the 17 byes Nevill conceded across the entire three-Test series in Sri Lanka last year.
(AP Photo/Tsering Topgyal)
It must be pointed out, however, that the Dhaka pitch, with its very uneven turn and bounce, was more difficult for keeping than any of the surfaces in Sri Lanka. So much so that even Bangladesh’s veteran wicketkeeper and captain Mushfiqur Rahim conceded a mammoth 22 byes.
And while Nevill only conceded 17 byes in Sri Lanka, he did miss four clear-cut chances across the series and was woeful with the bat, averaging just eight from his six innings. Nevill entered the Test arena with a reputation in domestic circles as having the second-best glovework in the country after Queensland’s Chris Hartley.
Yet his keeping, overall, was only satisfactory rather than outstanding across his Test stint. In that way, Nevill’s glovework could not make up for his insufficient input with the bat, as he averaged just 22 with a highest score of 66.
It seemed to be this lack of runs which cost Nevill his Test spot when he was replaced by Wade for the third Test against South Africa last summer. Wade has since been similarly poor with the blade, making 155 runs at 21. The 29-year-old Tasmanian did have a good tour of India earlier this year, where he kept quite neatly and averaged 33 with the bat.
That likely won’t save him though if he has another substandard Test next week in Bangladesh, especially if Australia go on to lose this series 2-0. In such a scenario, Nevill and Carey would surge into contention for the Ashes.
WA’s Sam Whiteman has long loomed as Australia’s best long-term Test keeping option, but he looks set to miss most or even all of the home summer due to yet another finger injury.
Carey now is the only young keeper with the requisite experience and form to enter Test calculations. The Redbacks keeper last summer became just the fourth player in Shield history to pass 500 runs and 50 catches in a season en route to breaking the all-time dismissals record with 59.
As I wrote in June, Carey appeared as though he might have leapfrogged Nevill in the Test pecking order when he was named as the Australia A wicketkeeper for their July tour of South Africa.
That tour was cancelled due to the pay dispute, robbing Carey of a golden chance to press his case for Ashes selection. This has placed extra importance on the first two rounds of the Sheffield Shield (to be played before the Ashes), which could potentially turn into a shootout between Nevill and Carey, should Wade struggle again next week.
First Australia need to avoid a 2-0 series loss in Bangladesh and, if they are to do so, they will need a lift from Wade.
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
What relevance was there in the batting average of 38? I like figures and their analysis but not sure where 38 and 30 were plucked from. Certainly not from any recent Aussie keepers. Your point is still valid but we can only dream that the batting option keeper averages 38. Wade averages 28 and Haddin 32. Gillie (47.61) is the only Aussie keeper to average 38 or more, so it seems a little unrealistic to use that figure as a comparison. Perhaps a truer comparison is for the batting option keeper to average 32 and the keeper option to average 22 or in Wade's case, since his recall, the batting keeper option can average 20.2? Our current reality strongly supports your hypothesis.
ColinP
Guest
nope.....bring nevill back, we'd love it, he's completely passive in the field, and might make 50 off 170 balls in maybe two innings, otherwise not a worry, Wade is unpredictable (sometimes crap but has the potential to be dangerous- akin to Mitch Johnson, although not to same extent). I realise you have your finger on the english cricket pulse from WA however......so please continue to enlighten us
Don Freo
Guest
There would be very few England fans that tnink along these libes. That's just silly.
ColinP
Guest
As an England fan I'd be pleased to see Nevill return over wade. I genuinely don't feel like Nevill can hurt us. Wade might be a liability, but can be destructive (as he has been in ODIs against us on occasions). Wade is also more combative, I can guarantee the England batsmen would be happier to have Nevill out there being placid as he's been in his test career to date (probably means he's a decent bloke, but that is sometimes easier to play against). I hope wade gets dropped. As for handscombe as keeper, does sound like a reasonable idea on the surface because he will improve like bairstow did. But the ashes is not the time, bairstow was a nightmare with the gloves at test level for a good year (described by bob Willis once "as a clapping seal with gloves on"), but he's pretty much as good as prior was now. The key point here though is that bairstow had probably already kept in 60 fc games before he was in the test team (he was Yorkshire first choice), I imagine handscombe may well be way behind in his development. Added issue of focussing on his batting too, I was really looking forward to see him at Yorkshire this year.....but he struggled to be honest, don't think he could have averaged more than 30, and looked really vulnerable to full balls at 4th stump with his back foot technique, which everyone in England took note of (think joe root in 2013, and Gary ballance now, who incidentally averaged 100 for yorkshire last year playing in same games as Handscombe). Plenty on the roar, rightly maybe, will have a dim view of ballance, well considering the comparison between the two of them this summer, suggests that handscombe will just need to focus on his batting without distraction for a while.
Don Freo
Guest
He has played grade cricket in that time but not many would rate Josh as a better bat than Whiteman. Whiteman is a wonderful batsman...and so is Josh...but Sam is one of the Warriors' best batsmen (better than Cartwright in my opinion) and only behind Shaun Marsh as our best. Both are excellent keepers.
Bakkies
Guest
Over 18 months ago Dizzy was talking up Bairstow as the next England wicket keeper.
Dicky M
Guest
Probably because Whiteman hasn't played "Grade" cricket for 4 years ....
Rellum
Roar Guru
Seccombe was a better keeper than Gilly, but not by much, but Gilly was an all time great batsmen to go with that so that was a reasonable selection obviously. Harts was the best keeper in the Country when his time came up. He was just caught in the silly wake of Gilly's career in regards to needing to be a batsmen first. There were other recent times where his batting was good enough to go with his keeping and they still didn't pick him. That is down to flawed selection policies and selectors playing favourites as they always do.
Bakkies
Guest
Kamran Akmal
Don Freo
Guest
The reality is that Seccombe and Hartley had at least one keeper ahead of them all the time. If Hartley had better batting form in the first part of his career, he'd have got a go. He really only became a significant batsman in his last 4 or 5 years.
Sam
Guest
A well worn path here. Qld has had consecutive superior glove man in Wade Seccombe and Chris Hartley while the national selectors looked elsewhere. They retire and people wonder why the cupboard is bare.
13th Man
Guest
So Ronan, who's to say Handscomb can't do the same ???
13th Man
Guest
The one I reckon will have a break out year is Josh Inglis, due to Whitemans injury he will be first choice WA keeper and he's also a seriously good bat. Rated by a lot of people over here in grade cricket as a better keeper bat than Whiteman.
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
Wade's selection over Nevill was the worst selection decision made and undid much of the good done by selectors when they finally acknowledged that Mitch Marsh, at this stage of his career, is not up to test standard as a top order batsman. A sloppy keeper at best, and an unreliable batsman, Wade has given selectors plenty of reasons to have selectors mulling over wicket keeper's names in readiness for the Ashes. Whispers were that the main reason for his selection is that he has a bit of mongrel in him. His keeping is significantly inferior to Nevill's and his FC batting stats don't measure up either. Not sure that mouthing off at opposition should be at the top of the criteria sheet for picking a keeper in the most trying conditions in test cricket. He had made a couple of starts in India, but more is required with both gloves and bat from the experienced Wade.
Basil
Guest
You should when you're judging the character of the person in such a vicious way as he does. Unless we all think slander is ok?
Don Freo
Guest
He was holding them for Ussie. Ussie was going to give Wadey a couple of tips.
Don Freo
Guest
Why not Jackson Bird as keeper? He bats better and can't keep worse.
Don Freo
Guest
We should pick him to lock him up as an Aussie. I think he's eligible to be a-a-a-Pom!
Rellum
Roar Guru
So now there are actual noises about Handscomb getting the gloves for the next test, "Peter Handscomb walked out to train on Saturday holding wicketkeeping pads and a helmet"
ols
Roar Pro
Exactly. Learn from history. We had exactly the same problem when Rod Marsh retired. We were lucky to go from Healy to Gilchrist. Time will tell. Our wicketkeeper saviour will arrive. Perhaps it will be Carey.