Wade could have made a difference in semi against England

MORE keepers should be considered as specialist batsmen in Australian short-form cricket

Australia's Matthew Wade plays a shot during the third day of their second test cricket match against Bangladesh in Chittagong, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad). Picture: A.M. Ahad

SportsView: Opinion with Gerard Walsh

AUSTRALIAN cricket selectors made a big call in not playing Matthew Wade in the World Cup semi-final loss against England.

We lost three early wickets, including Peter Handscomb and despite strong batting by Steve Smith and keeper Alex Carey we never recovered and were easily beaten.

It was scary watching Handscomb bat and hear the commentators analysing his weaknesses in English conditions.

I went to bed, in fact, thinking the Aussies were in big trouble and would have only had to stay awake for another over to see Handscomb back in the pavilion.

The other side of the story is that Handscomb averaged 43 and had a strike rate of 98 in the summer but Wade also had an outstanding season in Australia.

It appears they might have used the same stamp to mark Wade's paperwork as they did three decades ago with Dean Jones.

Other countries seem more likely to use their reserve keeper as a batsman, we seem to pigeon hole them in Australia.

What a week

IT wasn't the best week in sport if you go for the underdog, a late try from NSW ended the Origin dreams of Queensland and then England got a late deflection off a New Zealand throw to get out of jail in the World Cup cricket.

Being neighbours, I love seeming the Kiwis do well. What can't we play a second super over each rather than giving the game to the team with the most boundaries.

You could just as easy have a countback on the most scoring shots and New Zealand would have won.

Five wins

IT was a super weekend for our footy teams with five wins in five games. The Wolves won 3-0 against the top side in football, the Redbacks won Aussie rules to celebrate Tony Chandler's 150th, the Water Rats outpowered St George in a battle of the big forwards and in the TRL, it was wins to Warwick and Wattles and both in the top-three.

Originally published as Wade could have made a difference in semi against England