Justin Langer hails Matthew Wade: The Australian coach was full of praise for the wicket-keeper batsman ahead of 2019 Ashes series.
Advertisement
Australia batsman Matthew Wade is leaving no stone unturned in pressing his case for a spot in the Ashes squad. The 31-year old cricketer has scored runs across formats and conditions in the recent past to become a strong contender to bat in the middle-order for Australia.
Wade was the second-highest run-scorer in both the Big Bash League and Sheffield Shield held earlier this year. While he scored 592 runs in 15 matches at an average of 42.28 and a strike rate of 146.89 including six half-centuries in the BBL, he amassed 1,021 runs in 10 matches 60.05 including two centuries and eight half-centuries in the Sheffield Shield.
Playing for Australia A in England for a month now, Wade has posted 471 runs at an average of 94.2 including three centuries across formats. Another good outing in the intra-squad warm-up match and Wade might be back playing for Australia after more than 21 months.
Justin Langer hails Matthew Wade
In a recent interview posted on the official Twitter handle of cricket.com.au, Australia coach Justin Langer was wax lyrical about Wade. Langer hailed the consistency with which Wade has been belting runs across formats.
“We saw it during the summer and we thought a real reward was being picked in the Australia A side because there was a lot of talk about Wadey [Matthew Wade] and his form and where he was batting and wicket-keeping. And he just keeps doing it again,” Langer was quoted as saying.
Aware of Wade’s recent form, Langer admitted that the southpaw has been doing everything that the team management has asked of Australian cricketers to do. “He’s got three hundreds on this tour already and I think he’s batted six or seven [six] times.
“He’s doing everything that we’ve asked of Australian cricketers. He’s making runs, he’s making big runs, he’s knocking that hard and his got that look in his eye. So, he’s certainly banging very hard for selection,” Langer added. Watch the full video below:
For more cricket-related news, click here.
