As Australia’s preparations for the upcoming Ashes series intensifies, Matthew Wade has given himself every chance of sneaking into the final squad.
Wade, 31, a wicket-keeper batsman has been in impressive form for Tasmania, recently being the second highest run-scorer in the 2018/19 Sheffield Shield season.
With Australia A having already played a series of matches in England, Wade’s form has impressed. The Tasmanian has already scored hundreds against Northamptonshire and Derbyshire in one-day matches over the last month.
The 31-year-old further highlighted his credentials after making 114 in the ongoing four-day match against an England Lions attack featuring England internationals Sam Curran and Jack Leach.
With Tim Paine currently captain of the Australian Test side it looks likely that Matthew Wade and Alex Carey are battling for the reserve wicket-keeper spot in the Ashes squad.
However, Wade’s performances with the bat in domestic cricket and the current England tour, enough to get him called up as an injury replacement to the World Cup squad, may increase his chances of being selected as a specialist batsman.
On the topic of playing as a wicket-keeper batsman or a specialist batsman Wade was confident he could adapt to either role.
“I think I can do both roles,” Wade said.
“I’ve played 22 Test matches, they’ve all been as wicketkeeper.
“If I manage to get a spot on the tour as that dual role and if anything happens to Tim (Paine) I feel I can stand in and catch them if they need me to.
“And vice versa, I’m playing more as a batsman at the moment as well.
“Coming here I thought my opportunity would be in that dual role if they wanted to take some extra bowlers or allrounders.
“I’m not sure if that’s the case but I feel I can do both if I’m needed.”
Wade has already played 22 Tests for Australia, scoring hundreds against West Indies and Sri Lanka, but has managed to average only 28.58 with the bat.
Australia’s First Test against England starts on August 1.
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