Matthew Wade on David Warner: The Australian stand-in opening batsman is unperturbed about his position in the Playing XI.
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Australia batsman Matthew Wade, who had opened the batting for the first time in Test cricket during the first two Test against India, has said that he was unperturbed about his spot in the Test team after the move up the order.
Wade, who had been batting at No. 6 since his Test comeback last year, gave up the position for all-rounder Cameron Green as he was asked to replace injured opening batsman David Warner.
Laying emphasis on versatility, Wade talked about keeping all option open with respect to him playing Test cricket for Australia.
“Justin [Langer] spoke to me and asked if I’d be comfortable to do it. No one pushed me into doing it,” Wade was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. “I said I’m more than comfortable to open, it didn’t worry me in terms of Davey coming back. I saw it as an opportunity to show I was versatile to bat from one to seven; I’ve batted in pretty much every position in the Test line-up, so I saw it as a positive opportunity.
“Going forward, they have someone who can cover every position and I can wicketkeep as well if something happened to Tim [Paine]. I saw it as a positive rather than a worry about being picked, I’m a bit passed that now, my spot has been speculated for 10 years so pretty used to that,” Wade said.
Matthew Wade on David Warner playing Sydney Test vs India
It was as recent as yesterday that Warner had expressed doubts of him being 100% fit for the third Test against India starting from January 7. Being asked about the prospect of opening the batting with Warner in the New Year’s Test, Wade expressed confidence in Warner’s return but was also open to accept Will Pucovski making his Test debut.
“We expect David [Warner] to play, so it’ll either be me opening with him or they’ll make a change,” Wade said.
David Warner has completed what looked like a decently long net in the indoor area before having a chat with captain Tim Paine #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/WYYBo78CyM
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) January 2, 2021
The change which Wade is referring to will be around Pucovski. If the “change” does happen, Wade will either return to the middle-order or sit out for the third Test.
Having done reasonably well in the first two Tests, Australia might look to accommodate Wade in the middle-order by dropping one out of batsman Travis Head or Green. It was during the Boxing Day Test that former Australia captain Ian Chappell had slammed Head for being vulnerable in so many ways.
