Matthew Wade's Ashes hopes in disarray after being dropped in India

Regarding Wade, I have nothing to add. We have a real lack of proven alternatives at wicket keeper, which must make ex-players like Darren Berry, Wade Seccombe and especially Chris Hartley, absolutely sick. I’m almost inclined to say, “Alex Carey you lucky son of a gun. You are the guy who just happens to be in the right spot at the right time. Here you go, make it your own.” It worked with Ian Healey, who was basically Qld’s second choice keeper when he was selected.

Carey has just made a magnificent 6 today against the CAxi. That will fire up the Wade fans (Hohns and Chappell are the only 2).

Although, I would argue that Nevill was not and is not "a failure". He was just not a Gilchristian success. I'd be happy with Nevill but I don't think he is better than Carey...or Whiteman.

I'd rather give the new boy Carey a go rather than rebirth a tried and failed keeper in Nevill. Didn't quite make the grade but goes back to domestic cricket and dominates. Matthew Elliot Syndrome maybe?

Don is correct.

How are you working out "keeping averages"? A keeper can only take what is offered (unless you are Wade). Certainly, it would be hard to argue that Nevill has taken more Shield dismissals in a season than the record...established by Carey.

Career averages indicate very little. Carey started as an opener but since he has replaced Ludemann as the keeper and batted in the middle order, he has been terrific. Try citing his average as a keeper batsman, especially over the past 2 years since he has been in contention. Whiteman, similarly began as an opener and a number 3 and only took the gloves when WA gave up on Michael Johnson and then Tom Triffitt. There is nothing wrong with Nevill but the argument that the 2 younger players are not ready because of how they played 3, 4 and 5 years ago makes very little sense. Try telling Doug Walters or Graham McKenzie or Bob Massie that the easybeat Poms is not a good opposition on debut.

I would agree that the domestic arena is where everyone needs to shine. But the Ashes is never a good place to blood newcomers, If the guys you mentioned had been blooded in some of the recent tests you may have had a good point. However ,also view the statistics and averages of all mentioned, Carey has a FC average of 25 whilst Whiteman has 33 with Neville sitting on 40. Statistics are what grade players, and Nevill has not just a better batting average but also exceeds all other in keeping averages. His Statistics speak for themselves.

The replacements are already there. We have a glut. Carey, Whiteman, Neilsen, Inglis, Doran are all excellent glovemen with their batting at various stages of development. Harper is a bit off the pace. Carey, Whiteman (if fit) and Inglis would perform with the bat tomorrow if there was an Ashes game needing them. We have seen Neilsen in limited overs show plenty and the whole world knows the raps on Doran as a batsman. We won't need 3 or 4 years to uncover that talent. 3 or 4 days, maybe. That's when the domestic stuff begins.

I've seen him keep (outstanding) and I've seen him bat (has stability, resilience and flair). He is the obvious choice for the Ashes. He is top notch, not a Steven Bradbury. If he plays in the Ashes, he'll be an established Test keeper for years to come. Those who knock his batting, where is the evidence? Try to explain what was so bad about his big, pressure, match-winning innings over the past 2 seasons.

Any knock on Carey's batting is by those who haven't followed him. He has done so much of promise and just as much with substance in his career so far. He is a way better batsman than Wade and will continue to shine this season. Whiteman is better...but not playing. Maybe we could get Josh Inglis to do a Healy. What we could do is pay less coaches, less administrators and get a surgeon or two to fix up Sam Whiteman's finger.

Nevill has an average of over 40 in FC, but his test average is only 22.9 due to the small number of innings he played . Healy obviously built his average over a much longer career. but with a FC average of over 40 in FC shows Nevill does have the potential to get there. However, His glove statistics are the best in the country and that's why we need to get back to a specialist batsman and a specialist keeper. How many games could have been changed by a poor dropped catch recently. Let the batsman do their Job and the keeper do his.

Of course the other issue is to go back to having specialists for each form of the game. Warner for example is a true 20/20 and ODI player and really has to try hard to adjust to test cricket. more often than not he slips back into his 20/20 ways and goes on a slog fest. Test cricket is about strategy and digging in when you need to. To his credit he did manage to do that once in the Bangladesh Tour. where his run rate was something like 110 of 230 balls. Joe Burns, Sean Marsh and kwaja are all test players. put them in the team and stick with them. Nevill is a test specialist, do not play him in ODIs and 20/20s, A great example of that was in the sri lanka test where he dug in after SOK was injured and could not run. nevill soaked up 178 balls in an effort to play for a draw. It nearly came off. but was an outstanding display of digging in and not displaying an ego. playing them all in all forms is not only a very heavy schedule where they are away from home and their families for months on end, but it also plays havoc with their skills in their strongest form. Nevill maybe has 3-4 years left in him. get him back into the test team and develop his replacement over the next 2-3 years. Dropping players in who have not yet performed in Sheffield is not fair on them.

What was his average during that time? If you're the best gloveman in the country, then I don't mind if you have a low FC average, but there's low and then there's "low". Ian Healy averaged 30 at FC level and 27 at Test level, in modern cricket that has to be the base line.

Why don't they ever take back-up 'keepers anymore? It's a bloody waste. We could be trying out Wade's replacement right now, instead of putting pressure on a guy who's trying to actually break into the team as a batsman.

For too long now, the Aussie selectors have tried to replace Gilchrist. What they should really be looking to do is to replace Ian Healy. Solid without setting the world alight! Neville's alright for that...

Would have to agree there. There aren't really a lot of other good options. Hartley has retired, Whiteman is injured, Carey is barely starting out (and doesn't have a great FC batting record either. I've heard people suggest he's good with the gloves, but I can't comment on that as I haven't really seen him keep much). We'll likely have 2-3 states debuting new keepers this season. And with only 6 state sides, That isn't going to give you a lot of options. Positions like Wicketkeeper where you only ever have one in a team really suffer from the fact there are only 6 first class sides in Australia. It just doesn't give the opportunities for young keepers to come through and you regularly just end up needing to have to play as a pure batsman to get a game.

Nevill is far more reliable gloveman, and in my view would be a safe choice - I'd really like to see Carey though. I understand the slight knock on Carey may be his batting, but this is a guy who scored almost 600 runs in the 2016/17 Shield season, so I'm not really sure where that is coming from. A record number of dismissals too show he'd likely be a reliable gloveman. In terms of pure keeping, gee I'd rank Wade about 4th or 5th in the country.

Nevill is the only choice for the Ashes, like burns he was unfairly dropped after the Hobart game, to come in at 7 when all of the specialist batsman failed to score 70 between them is asking the impossible from any true wicketkeeper. they also failed to note that he had a 60 not out in the previous test despite all the top order failing again. Look at his State e Performances since being dropped with 3 100s and some solid glove work Nevill is not for the next 10 years but he will stabilize the next 2-3 years whilst Carey is developed, if they take a risk on Carey too early they will destroy him. It does go to show that the choice on Wade because he has the sledging is not as important as having the pure cricket skills to back the sledging. My Choice is Nevill for the Ashes. he may not be verbal behind the wickets but he certainly has the skills.

I agree that in the two ODI's Handscomb has kept in that he's not exactly done well, but also in both cases he's been thrown the gloves out of nowhere while probably only expecting to be in the team as a batsman. I do wonder if he might be able to do a better job if it was clear he was going to be in the team as a keeper and he was therefore given the chance to put in a bit more practice with the gloves first. That may or may not help, I don't know, but I have to think the the circumstances of both ODI's where Handscomb has kept have been far from ideal for him to be able to put in a good performance. I don't know that we need to "stop obsessing about batting numbers". Having a keeper who can contribute well with the bat does make a big difference. The big issue is that Wade hasn't been doing that.