Top Tiger happy for Paine, sad for Wade

TIGERS coach Adam Griffith has admitted to having mixed feelings over the naming of the Ashes squad, which saw Tim Paine replace his teammate Matthew Wade as keeper.

The shock selection of Paine, who was overlooked for the first two Sheffield Shield matches and stood at first and second slip against Victoria at the MCG this week, came at the expense of Wade, a fellow Lauderdale junior.

Wade was the incumbent but had failed to nail down the big score required in the first three shield matches, while back-to-back half-centuries from Paine, the first for the CA XI against England in Adelaide, saw him leapfrog the queue based on his superior glovework.

Griffith denied there was any directive from the national body in the Tigers’ decision to bat longer than many expected on Wednesday, while he also denied any disharmony between himself and captain George Bailey over the timing of the declaration.

“We made that decision on what we felt was best for the game. We were 2-400 on a pretty good batting wicket and Melbourne is quite renowned for its fickle weather, we had no idea what was going to happen,” Griffith said.

“We didn’t want to set them a target that was easy to get and then have them chase it down easily the next day.

“It wasn’t just George and I discussing it, ‘ Wadey’ was part of that discussion on what we thought was best to win the game.”

While Wade’s Test future appears over, at this stage he remains the one-day keeper and Griffith said the state would do everything to help the left-hander bounce back to form with the bat. He is also confident the selection sliding door will not cause friction in the changerooms.

“It is a really hard one when one of your players gets selected and another gets dropped. I was really excited for Tim ... but felt devastated for ‘Wadey’. He will bounce back. He just wants to play good cricket for Tasmanian now.”