FAMILY FIRST FOR WADE
TASSIE cricket star Matthew Wade will step away from the crease for two Sheffield Shield matches to spend time with loved ones, explaining family time is a precious commodity as Australian cricketers prepare for a season of lockdowns and quarantines.
MATTHEW Wade will sacrifice two Sheffield Shield games for a block of family time, which will be as precious as it’s ever been to Australian cricketers this summer.
Test stars like Wade haven’t played a game of red-ball cricket since the Sydney Test in January, so every moment at the crease is golden leading into the block buster series against India in December. But the bigger picture is the prospect of not only a summer away from loved ones, but the likelihood of being forced to spend multiple stints in quarantine over the coming 12 months every time the team travels abroad.
Wade has gone from thinking he’ d never play for Australia again, to being a fixture in the Test middleorder, and a critical utility in the ODI and T20 squads, and he now has two little girls. Australia’s white-ball squad will finally be released from the confines of their two-week isolation stint on Saturday, and Wade will head back to Tasmania, rather than staying on in Adelaide, where the Shield season will start a week later.
Having not seen them for five weeks, Wade is viewing this block as potentially his last opportunity to see his family again for months.
“I’ll go home and spend about 20 days with my family before the big run of games. Then I’ll come back to Adelaide and play the last two Shield games and then we’ll look to push into that international white and redball bubble and hopefully I’ ll get a few more games up leading into the first Test,” said Wade.
“It’s a big unknown for everyone. Personally, that’s the way I’m attacking it, is to get home, spend sometime and then really just put your mind on potentially not being able to see your family for a period of time.
“Certainly with two kids and the situation we’re in, no one knows where it’s going to land in the next month or two.
“It’ d be nice if they can come away at some stage and we’re still very hopeful they’ll be able to come and spend time with us. If that doesn’t happen, it’s more mentally preparing for the worst and hope for the best .”