Hurricanes coach backs his skipper to remain integral part of national set up despite Test axing
Matthew Wade’s Test career is on life support but his Hurricanes coach has declared the left hander won’t let it be a distraction on the country’s concurrent T20 New Zealand tour
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DUMPED Test batsman Matthew Wade still has a “huge” role to play for Australia despite his long form career appearing over, according to Hurricanes coach Adam Griffith.
Hobart’s Big Bash skipper was axed from the upcoming tour of South Africa after a subpar series against India, where he managed just 173 runs at 21.6 in the four Tests.
Wade, who put his hand up to open in the first two matches with David Warner sidelined with injury, revived his red-ball dreams in 2019 and scored two centuries in England as Australia retained the Ashes.
However in three home series since he passed 50 just once and failed to reach the mark in 14 consecutive innings.
The 33-year-old was the only omission from the squad which lost to the Indians 2-1, and was instead named Aaron Finch’s deputy for the country’s concurrent T20 tour of New Zealand, which contains Hurricanes teammates D’Arcy Short, Riley Meredith and Ben McDermott.
“I don’t want to speculate on selection at that level but Wadey is Wadey, he’s quite a pragmatic bloke, he gets on with the job,” Griffith said.
“He doesn’t let those things affect him too much. I still think he’s got a huge role to play for Australia going forwards, obviously at the moment it’s in white ball cricket, and he’ll give it everything he’s got to play well there.
“He’s still in their best white ball team. When it comes to Test cricket, who knows, if he’s making runs and they need a batter then potentially he gets back in there but he’s the type of character that just gets on with the job.”
While rapt at McDermott and Meredith’s inclusions, Griffith was surprised Nathan Ellis was overlooked after enhancing his reputation following another impressive tournament.
Ellis finished as Hobart’s leading wicket taker (20) and was consistently entrusted to bowl in the most challenging stages of games.
“I was really impressed with Riley [against the Melbourne Renegades] to bounce back the way he did after probably not his best game the game before,” Griffith said.
“It just shows you how good he is. When he’s going well he’s different gravy to most guys in the competition and we all know what Ben can do when he’s on.
“Disappointed for Nathan, I thought he had earned the right to get on that tour but keeping in mind he’s only played for two years now, so he’s like a 19-year-old or a 20-year-old, in terms of how much cricket he’s played.
“I think he will definitely get an opportunity there and when he does he’ll grab it with both hands because he’s that good.
“I still think he’s one of the best bowlers in the competition and hopefully he gets that chance soon.”
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