Matthew Wade’s Test career on knife’s edge after Darren Lehmann refused to commit to picking the gloveman

DARREN Lehmann has refused to rule out dropping Matthew Wade in the name of saving the series in Bangladesh, leaving a question mark over the keeper’s future.

Matthew Wade had a poor first Test behind the stumps and with the bat.

DARREN Lehmann has refused to rule out the extreme measure of dropping wicketkeeper Matthew Wade in the name of saving the series in Bangladesh.

Selectors will wait to inspect the Chittagong wicket before making any decisions on the line-up, but Lehmann has conceded Australia is mulling over all combinations, including the bombshell prospect of part-time keeper Peter Handscomb taking the gloves.

The fact it was bucketing down on Friday with unrelenting monsoonal rain in the seaport city will not make the selection picture any clearer, however, the fact Wade is not safe on a tour where there’s no specialist back-up suggests his Test career is hanging by the barest thread.

Matthew Wade had a poor first Test behind the stumps and with the bat.

Lehmann pulled no punches by accepting his team deserves the criticism that’s come their way, and declaring poor batting cost them a first Test that despite Bangladesh’s major improvements, was theirs for the taking.

Now the coach admits Australia could arguably be considered “underdogs” against ninth-ranked Bangladesh on a Chittagong wicket he expects to spin as much as the difficult conditions faced in Dhaka, with the impact of fast bowlers tipped to diminish as the game wears on.

Steve O’Keefe seems set to play alongside Nathan Lyon and Ashton Agar in a three-pronged spin attack, with Wade’s fate to potentially be decided by whether a second fast bowler Jackson Bird is added to the mix.

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When asked if a landmark keeping change was possible, Lehmann could give Wade, who has averaged just 21 since coming back into the side last summer, no guarantees.

“Again, once we get there we will take a look at the wicket and the conditions and whether we change that (keeping) or go with one quick or two quicks or three spinners,” said Lehmann.

“It really comes down to what we want to set our side up like for the second Test, and the wicket.

“It’s not ruled out with any of the XI really. Of the 14 here, anyone could play.”

Bangladesh gave Wade an almighty send-off.

Lehmann admits that selectors arrived in Bangladesh feeling they wanted to play Usman Khawaja in both Tests leading into the summer Ashes, after he’d spent six months carrying drinks with no international cricket to speak of.

Former Test great Mike Hussey told cricket.com.au that maintaining continuity for Khawaja was crucial.

Khawaja is now feeling the heat after he bombed out in Dhaka and although Lehmann would like to maintain a settled group, he could make no promises ahead of a must-win second Test where it’s all or nothing for Australia.

“We’ll have to wait and see with the wicket. Look, it’s disappointing for him and obviously a few other players who were disappointing in the Test match. If we had contributions from everyone we probably would have won the game,” said Lehmann.

“He is doing everything to change his game from here to home; we know he’s a very good player at home on those sorts of wickets. We’ll just have to wait and see.

“There was certainly a feel of that (giving him two matches in Bangladesh). It is important to have a settled group where you possibly can.

“Obviously the result didn’t go our way so we have to think what we are doing there and how we want to go about it.

“For the Ashes, we are pretty clear on where we are going and who we want to play in that scenario in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide and all those wickets.

“That’s too far ahead for us to look at, obviously we have got a pretty important Test match over the next couple of days.”

Steve O'Keefe is set for a Test re-call.

Lehmann said the mood in the camp remained strong and that bouncing back in Chittagong was imperative.

The coach said his side have copped the backlash from home on the chin and are making no excuses.

“We missed the opportunity in the first innings to post a big score. You cop the criticism. The boys are all hurting with the criticism you get, you deserve that when you don’t win,” said Lehmann.

“We’re quite a young side. We had five players under 10 Test matches. So in terms of a rebuild, it is a young group coming together learning their craft.

“We’re learning all the time. I think we still could have got the runs … but Bangladesh put the pressure on us and we didn’t cope well enough.

“The chance for us to bounce back next week is really important. It’s not good enough when you lose a Test match to anyone, but Bangladesh are tough at home.”