Cricket News: Matthew Wade eyes UK move for ‘The Hundred’ tournament, SA Redbacks drama continues | Leg Buys column
Three years after losing his national contract, Matthew Wade is on track to make Australia’s Twenty20 World Cup squad. But unlike some of his teammates, the gloveman is unlikely to feature in Major League Cricket.
Leg Buys is Code Sports’ regular column looking at player and staff movement in cricket, particularly through an Australian prism.
AMERICAN LOSS IS ENGLISH WADE GAIN
Three years after losing his national contract, Matthew Wade is on track to make Australia’s touring party for the Twenty20 World Cup to be held in June across the Carribbean and US.
But whereas several of his Aussie teammates are set to stay in the region after the global event to play in the second edition of Major League Cricket, the gloveman is unlikely to feature in the American league.
Despite averaging 33.6 with the bat at a strike rate of more than 163 for the Cricket Victoria-aligned San Francisco Unicorns last year, Wade was curiously not retained by the club.
With opportunities hard to come by around the six-team league, industry sources have indicated that Wade will instead turn his attention to the overlapping Hundred competition in the UK, where he has previously played, with the Tasmanian throwing his hat in the ring for this year’s draft.
Retentions for MLC were announced earlier in the month, although fresh signings are yet to be unveiled. However as flagged, Washington Freedom, coached by Ricky Ponting and in partnership with Cricket NSW, is in the box seat to acquire Aussie guns Steve Smith, Travis Head and New Zealand breakout star Rachin Ravindra.
Fringe Aussie white-ball player Sean Abbott is also being linked with the Freedom, while Daniel Sams is believed to be in the sights of the Texas Super Kings. Matt Short is poised to play with the Unicorns, while Josh Inglis and Glenn Maxwell are others with interest in the competition.
FIRST DOMINO?
The impending departure of long-time South Australian cricket performance chief Tim Nielsen from his post has muddied the waters around the direction of the struggling Redbacks. The former Australian coach will exit at the end of the season in a move announced earlier this week.
The SACA has been reviewing its operations as it nears the end of what is set to be another fruitless season for its men’s program. SA hasn’t won the Sheffield Shield in 28 years and has plummeted to the foot of the table.
Coach Jason Gillespie remains contracted for next season however sources have indicated that patience is wearing thin in Adelaide after umpteen false dawns for the Redbacks. There had been an expectation within state cricket circles that SA would look to bolster its batting from interstate with the addition of a player like Jason Sangha or Sam Heazlett, however the Nielsen news could prompt a change in thinking.
It has been a volatile couple of weeks across Australian cricket administration after Sydney Thunder and Sydney Sixers chiefs Andrew Gilchrist and Chris Botherway were respectively made redundant amid a suite of changes at Cricket NSW, with former Australian players Trent Copeland and Rachael Haynes put in charge of one program each under the new structure.
As forecast by this column, Cricket Victoria has also advertised for new cricket roles at both the Melbourne Stars and Melbourne Renegades.
NIC OF TIME
Australian World Cup winner Nicola Carey’s century led Tasmania’s women to a third straight Women’s National Cricket League title on the weekend. But the all-rounder’s future on the Apple Isle remains up in the air.
It’s understood Carey did not re-sign with the WBBL’s Hobart Hurricanes before the embargo period went into play, leaving her vulnerable to be poached by interested interstate raiders.
There remains a widespread expectation within women’s cricket circles that the WBBL will be cut to 10 regular season matches per team next season, down from 14, with Cricket Australia to fill the hole with extra domestic cricket given the increasing disparity between the workload of top internationals and rank and file state players.
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