Wade expecting himself to bat in top-order in series against Windies
Jul 03, 2021
Gros Islet [St Lucia], July 3 : Australia wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Wade on Saturday said that he is expecting himself to bat in the top-order in the upcoming limited-overs series against West Indies.
Australia and West Indies are slated to lock horns in five T20Is and three ODIs, beginning Friday, July 9.
"Think I'll be one, two or three. Batted three in the last T20 in New Zealand, batted at six in the first T20 against India then I opened next two games. I can bat anywhere, that's one my strengths, I've batted pretty much everywhere for Australia," ESPNcricinfo quoted Wade as saying.
"Where ever there's an opportunity I'll go to but I'd assume Finch, Warner then probably the wicketkeeper will probably be at three if not open. We'll work it out as we go but I see myself playing in the top of the order if I'm in the team so we'll wait and see," he added.
Wade has donned the wicketkeeping gloves in the Australian since after he replaced Alex Carey on the England tour last year. In the T20I series against India last year, he was able to score back-to-back half-centuries as well.
"Think every time you play for Australia is a bit of an audition, I've never really been a cemented player in the team so it'll be no different going into this tour," said Wade.
"I've played 90-odd one-dayers and every tour I went on a felt like I needed to perform or I wouldn't be on the next tour. As I've spoken about before I'm in a different place with my life and my cricket, if I get opportunities to play games of cricket again for Australia whether that be one or two games here or 10 and the World Cup, whatever comes my way I'll take," he added.
Australia was not able to train on Friday as hurricane Elsa swept through St Lucia forcing the island into a lockdown.
"We sat by our windows and watched it pass through. We were lucky, think we only got the edge of it. Was like a Brisbane thunderstorm for a long period of time, high winds and a lot of rain. That will probably impact our lead-up and training in next few days but we battened down the hatches and watched it go by," said Wade.
"I'm not too worried about the preparation. There's obviously guys who want to get out and hit a lot of balls for those lucky enough to play a bit of subcontinent cricket and in the Caribbean it's not too much of an issue, we can tap on our experience and that should hold us in good stead," he added.