Matthew Wade

[Andre]

At what point as Aussie fans do we acknowledge that we've done what I thought was unthinkable for us - pick a batsman who can keep, rather than a keeper good enough to hold his own with the gloves.

Obviously his glovework has been downright filthy but it doesn't seem to have the same selection 'murmours' in the media as other spots in the side.

However this Test kind of took it to a new level. Every time the ball beat the bat I was genuiely nervous as to whether the ball would be gloved; more often than not it wasn't and no one was suprised.

Has we actually turned a corner in the sense that we won't pick the best gloveman in the pursuit of runs? Admittedly Gilly and Haddin might not have been the best going around at the time, but they were at the very least in the top 2 in the country.

Are the selectors perhaps waiting for Paine to make some runs? Or can we half expect Haddin to be keeping some July?

 

[benchmark00]

My thoughts on this have been well documented.

 

[Redbacks]

He dropped a catch against Wollongong u/13's I'm guessing.

 

[benchmark00]

Dropped a mark in the SANFL. I blame the evil AFL.

 

[Dan]

When I originally championed Wade for selection, I knew his glovework wasn't the greatest. But I never realised it was this poor.

In a Test series in India to an average spinner, you need your wicketkeeper taking all of his chances, or at least 9 in 10. Wade looks like 1 in 10 would be a huge challenge.

If he doesn't improve quickly, I don't know how we can persist with him. I don't like kneejerk change and want to see consistency in selection, but you can't overlook how poor he's been.

 

[Burgey]

Worst australian keeper since Wayne Phillips.

 

[vic_orthdox]

It's somewhat worrying that Victoria have replaced him with another guy who isn't a natural keeper.

I haven't caught much of this Test just gone, but what I did he really did look super sloppy. Be interesting to see how much it comes under scrutiny in the press, as if he performed like that in a home Test, then there would be calls for his sacking straight away.

It's going to be interesting to see what he can make of himself in the long term with the gloves. There'll be a time when he's out of the team in the near future, but hopefully he can "do a Prior".

 

[Spark]

He's already almost certainly lost us one critical Test and arguably the series with it. He can bat obvs but so can most of the other contenders, and we can't afford to be putting down anything atm, especially off Lyon who needs all the help we can get. Imagine if Lyon was coming into this series on a high because the six or seven chances had been taken and the resulting boost in confidence/quality of bowling helping him.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Is he worse, better or about the same as Dropmal (bearing in mind that Dropmal could be a fixer who got away)?

 

[Spikey]

i think the most disappointing thing was the lack of chat. there just seemed nothing happening and his body language was really poor at stages. i didn't see it, but didn't he basically break team rules and get sucked in by Harby too? anyway. i can take the looking incredibly sloppy and amateurish keeping, that's gonna happen when the ball is constantly bouncing before you and to his credit he managed to stop all those, in one way or another (although that job was made easier by the fact none of those balls were actually about to jump sharply and hit him in the head, which is typically the worry when the ball is bouncing before you. he just had to get his body behind the line and he did it.)

 

[social]

This is the situation as I understand it

1. Injury or not, Haddin was pretty poor in the last few test matches that he played for Australia and some of the shots he played at crucial times were disgraceful

2. As a result of (1), Haddin was stood down for some Odis/T20s and replaced by Wade, who did reasonably well

3. As a result of (2), Wade was chosen as the backup keeper to Haddin for the tour of WI

4. Haddin subsequently withdrew from that tour and was replaced by Wade in tests

5. Wade did pretty well with the gloves and bat including scoring a vital century

6. As a result of (5) and Haddin's age, Wade was retained for the home tests

7. Wade was serviceable with the gloves and bat in the summer just gone by but pretty dodgy when keeping to spin

8. Wade's performance in Chennai was disgraceful leading some people to claim that Haddin is Alan Knott with the gloves and Gilchrist with the bat

Dont get me wrong, I would prefer to have Wade as the finished article or Paine scoring centuries to demand inclusion but do we really have to go back to a 35 yo whose lasting legacy is this Brad Haddin Can't Bat - YouTube (I didnt name the clip btw because he is obviously a very good bat with issues)

 

[Tangles]

If Haddin was playing as a bat I would have him keep. Wade is disgracefully bad at a time when we don't make enough chances to have them missed. If we discount Haddin on age then surely there's still 4 state keepers who can't be worse with the gloves.

Wade was the 4th best keeper on display vs SL. And that might be doing SL's number 4 keeper a disservice.

 

[Red]

Wade is possibly the worst Australian keeper ever.

 

[BoyBrumby]

He's really bad. I mean, genuinely fingers over your eyes bad.

As I said in the tour thread, if he's the incumbent come the English leg of the Ashes it could be painfully funny to watch, given the deviation we can get after the ball passes the stumps.

Is there a case for playing him as a specialist bat tho? Anyone top ordure (sic) that contains Felson, Twatto and Rainman isn't of the first water.

 

[social]

He's really bad. I mean, genuinely fingers over your eyes bad.

As I said in the tour thread, if he's the incumbent come the English leg of the Ashes it could be painfully funny to watch, given the deviation we can get after the ball passes the stumps.

Is there a case for playing him as a specialist bat tho? Anyone top ordure (sic) that contains Felson, Twatto and Rainman isn't of the first water.

One of the arguments for his retention is that he is "allegedly" a high quality batsman

I'm part of the jury where we are out

 

[Tangles]

What he isn't is a top 6 batter which is where he has spent back to back tests.

 

[Howe_zat]

He's really bad. I mean, genuinely fingers over your eyes bad.

As I said in the tour thread, if he's the incumbent come the English leg of the Ashes it could be painfully funny to watch, given the deviation we can get after the ball passes the stumps.

Is there a case for playing him as a specialist bat tho? Anyone top ordure (sic) that contains Felson, Twatto and Rainman isn't of the first water.

It's probably the most alien conditions for him in India isn't it? Given the lack of bounce.

 

[Red]

Alien or not, doesn't seem to matter. He was dire against South Africa in his own conditions.

 

[Neil Pickup]

It's a different kind of alien. In England, for no obvious reason, you get wobble after the bat, which is an absolute nightmare to keep against. Very few overseas keepers go well on their first tour here for that very reason, and even then it can make you look an idiot (cf Dhoni 2011).

Have a look at 6:17-7:11 on this Prior masterclass video.

Haven't seen any of Wade's efforts this time around - anything specific that he's doing badly?

 

[Top_Cat]

It's somewhat worrying that Victoria have replaced him with another guy who isn't a natural keeper.

I haven't caught much of this Test just gone, but what I did he really did look super sloppy. Be interesting to see how much it comes under scrutiny in the press, as if he performed like that in a home Test, then there would be calls for his sacking straight away.

It's going to be interesting to see what he can make of himself in the long term with the gloves. There'll be a time when he's out of the team in the near future, but hopefully he can "do a Prior".

Hopefully he's aiming higher than that. Ian Healy, who obviously turned into one of our best pair of hands, was pretty awful early on, probably the 3rd or 4th best 'keeper in the country when he first played Tests. Heals concentration on getting better at 'keeping probably affected his batting so it depends on what the selectors are looking for too.

I'm no 'keeper but it seemed as if he's struggling to get there before the ball does, if you know what I mean.