GLOVES OFF
CT hits back over Wade-Paine claims
CRICKET Tasmania has dismissed suggestions the Tigers are being forced to play Test gloveman Matthew Wade instead of their preferred option Tim Paine.
Former South Australian and Victorian wicketkeeper and former Red- backs coach Darren Berry said Wade was in danger of being dumped from international cricket to club cricket should he be axed from the Test side.
Wade was under pressure to retain his Test spot ahead of Peter Nevill and Alex Carey before the first Ashes Test starting on November 23.
“Tim Paine is playing in Perth for a Cricket Australia XI, but my infor- mation is that Tasmania would prefer that Tim Paine was keeping for Tasmania and not Matthew Wade,” Berry told Melbourne radio SEN.
“I think he should probably be per- severed with because he is keeping OK at the moment, but if he doesn’t get the nod and Tim Paine takes the Tassie gloves, Wade could go from Test to club like that.
“If Matthew Wade doesn’t get the gloves in the first Test, what a fall from grace that would be.
“[Paine] played in the last Australian selected team, which was a T20 match in India, as the wicketkeeper and never got a game for Tasmania in the Shield. That doesn’t make sense to me.”
CT chief executive Nick Cummins said the implication the state was being forced to play Wade as the No. 1 gloveman by Cricket Australia was simply untrue. “If we wanted Paine instead of Wade, we would pick him,” Cummins said.
“[Tigers coach] Adam Griffith picks the team, not [CA high performance manager] Pat Howard or [Australian captain] Steve Smith or anyone else — Adam picks the team because that’s where the accountability lies. If Adam Griffith believed Tim Paine should be ’keeping then he would.”
Cummins said Griffith received no directions or pressure to select Wade ahead of Paine.
“It is Adam’s job that is on the line, and that is based on performance,” he said.
“They [CA] do provide more feedback around bowlers and bowling loads but they never say ‘you should pick this player over this player’ — the coach has to be able to pick the team.”