Yappy Wade shows he can walk the walk as well as talk the talk
WARNER’S TOTAL FLOP 1st 13.5 9.5 168 169
2nd Test, Lord’s: Match drawn 4th Test, Old Trafford: Australia won by 185 runs
WHEN Matthew Wade was recalled to the Australia Test side in 2016 after a gap of three-and-a-half years, it was widely perceived to be as much for his verbal aggression as glovework.
Peter Nevill, who had kept wicket to that point, was not imparting enough yap, so selectors believed – and nobody yapped better than the feisty man from Hobart.
Those who know him suggest that subsequent struggles – he was dropped at the end of 2017 after 10 Tests – and the birth of his two children have mellowed him.
That has not been noticeable this summer. In fact, as self-appointed irritant in chief, he has been a verbal thorn – never more so than this weekend at the Oval.
If you are going to dish it out you have to be able to take it, though, and yesterday, with an innings of huge skill and courage, Wade showed that he produces his best when he is under threat.
This was his second century of the series after one in the second innings at Edgbaston. But if his first was made in the shadow of Steve Smith, here his innings stood proud as a masterful performance against both pace and spin which carried him to 117 and briefly floated hopes he could guide Australia home.
His battle with Jofra Archer after tea was theatre, the pair locking horns and stares in an eight-over spell of furious pace from the England man after Wade took him on.
The pair were team-mates at Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash but it seems safe to assume they were not close.
If his battle with Archer showed his courage and skill – he pulled and hooked the paceman for six fours and a top-edged six – his battle with Jack Leach showed off his footwork.
His repeated dances down the wicket hurt Leach’s rhythm and neutralised the rough outside his off stump. He was undone twice by Joe Root, with Jonny Bairstow failing to gather the first stumping chance before the second ended a fine innings.
The desire to be a team’s self-appointed wasp is not to everyone’s taste as it invites special attention from the opposition.
Yet it is an Australian tradition. David Warner has shared his thoughts on occasion, though a lack of runs has silenced him this summer.
Wade had to reinvent himself as a batsmen when fellow Tasmanian Tim Paine blocked his path to the gloves, but 1,021 Sheffield Shield runs last winter ticked that box.
He admits he plays best “when I get into a contest”.
He did that all summer and yesterday backed it up magnificently.