WADE BACK AGAIN
He’s already safe in Test side — now Matt returns for T20s
AFTER 3½ years in the shortform wilderness, Hurricanes and Tigers star bat Matthew Wade is primed for his T20 return in South Africa.
Australia is poised to bring Wade and Mitchell Marsh into a new-look middle order for the first Twenty20 against South Africa in Johannesburg tomorrow morning (AEDT), following Glenn Maxwell’s injury-forced withdrawal.
Just like his Test career, Wade has forced his way back into the national set-up through a mountain of runs at all levels of cricket, especially in the BBL with the Hurricanes for the past two seasons.
Marsh missed the entire home summer after breaking his hand punching a dressing room wall as he attempted to put runs on the board in the Sheffield Shield for Western Australia.
It was a moment of madness that cost him Test matches, but showed how much securing a baggy green cap meant to him.
But after watching the team play without him over the summer, Marsh is back and expected to bat at No.5 for the first T20, with Wade at No.4 — as selectors look to the pair to prove themselves as finishers just months out from the home World Cup.
During his recovery Marsh could barely clasp a knife and fork to eat, but now he has a genuine opportunity to win his place back in all three formats.
He is picked for the three-match ODI series to follow in South Africa, and for the next Test series in Bangladesh this winter, Australia may need a pace bowling all-rounder at No.6.
Marsh made his T20 international debut at this ground, The Wanderers, way back in 2011, and belted four sixes in an innings of 36 off 21 balls.
Australian captain Aaron Finch won’t confirm his side until the toss in Johannesburg, but selectors are tipped to stick with a winning combination in the bowling attack and back in two spinners Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar, and paceman Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc.
Kane Richardson would appear likely to edge out namesake Jhye Richardson and Sean Abbott for the final bowling spot, though Abbott was excellent during the BBL and his debut T20 back in November.
D’Arcy Short is the other batsman in the party, but Wade and Marsh are set to get first crack.
Steve Smith talked up all three candidates, but said Wade is the most inform cricketer in Australia.
“I think we’ve got pretty much all bases covered here at the moment. It’s a really good squad,” Smith said.
“Mitch played well in the Big Bash, and scored some runs at the back end. We know how strong he is and he’s done it at this ground before, many years before, smacking a few big balls.
“Matty Wade is obviously coming off the back of the BBL … he’s been in terrific form and his game is in as good a place as anyone in Australia at the moment.
“And obviously D’Arcy Short who is there at the moment as well, he’s been incredibly consistent in T20 cricket for some time now.
“We’ve got most bases covered and plenty of quick bowlers, a couple of spinners, so we can chop and change the way we want to play. I think we’re in a good place.”
Australia was triumphant in the Twenty20 series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka to start the summer, and the spinning partnership of Zampa and Agar were deemed key to the success.
Even in South Africa with the conditions famously pacy and bouncy, Australia is likely to back the two men who can take pace off the ball.
Marsh says he spent much of his self-inflicted injury layoff practising six-hitting. The all-rounder was a strong performer for the Perth Scorchers during the BBL.
If Australia has lacked anything in its T20 and ODI cricket of late it has been in the middle order, needing combinations that can capitalise on the hot starts put on the board by David Warner and Aaron Finch.
It is hoped Wade and Marsh can provide that versatility and power in the back overs.