Australia skipper Tim Paine heaped huge praise on wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Wade and said he is improving the older he gets. Wade opened the innings for Australia in the opening Test match against India in the absence of David Warner as Paine claims that the southpaw is a flexible cricketer.
Paine said he does not want to think too much about Wade’s batting position once Warner returns to the Test squad. Warner sustained an injury during the ODI series against India and was ruled out of the further limited-over contests. The southpaw also missed the first Test and will not play the Boxing Day Test too.
Australia head coach Justin Langer had refused to comment on what will happen when Warner returns and said that the selection matters would work out when they have to.
“The great thing about Wadey (Wade) is that he can do either. I think he did a great job in the first Test match. I think JL (Justin Langer) is right. Things have a way of working out by themselves. There is no point in putting time into what might happen and what ifs. At the moment he is batting well for us in this Test match and we will look at that again come the third Test match. So we have not put too much into it, particularly this year we have seen anything can happen from injury or concussion or unavailabilities due to border closures…we will make the decision when we have to,” said Paine on the eve of the Boxing Day Test against India.
Wade has become a crucial part of the Australian team in the past couple of years because of his versatility as Paine talked about his value to the team.
“Wadey has done great job for us whether he bats at one or 7. We know that he is a flexible cricketer. He has shown that in all formats of the game. He is another guy who is improving the older he gets. He has come back into the Australian side, batted in white-ball cricket and red-ball cricket and continually does the job for us. That is why he is so valuable for our team,” said Paine.
Australia beat India by 8-wickets in the first Test as their pace bowling unit brought A-game on the table and restrict the visitors to their lowest ever score est cricket history -36. Paine feels all-rounder Cameron Green, who made his debut in Adelaide, might bowl more in Melbourne than he did in the first Test against India.
“There are some limits. The good thing with Greeny is that every time he gets through a game bowling, we can add a few more to that. We were lucky in Adelaide that the big three did the job in the second innings and we can bank those overs (of Green) into the next game…yeah we expect him to bowl a bit more in this Test match if required. He would have obviously bowled a lot more in first Test but wasn’t required,” said Paine.