David Hussey wants Matthew Wade in the Australian Test team

It was always predicted that once the final wicket of Australia tumbled at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, one of the Baggy Greens’ impenetrable forts, and India took an unassailable lead in the four-Test series, the host nation’s cricket will be under fresh scrutiny that had loosened after the Perth victory. The Australians put up a pathetic batting performance in Melbourne in the third Test to lose the match by 137 runs and advices have come flying in thick and fast for making changes.

One such advice came from former batsman David Hussey, brother of Mike Hussey, who feels Matthew Wade should be recalled in the side for the fourth and final Test in Sydney starting January 3 to make up for the Kangaroos’ batting woes. Australia have failed to register a single hundred in the three matches of the series so far while India have registered three.

Two players from the Melbourne who are likely to face the axe in the next Test are opener Aaron Finch who has managed only one fifty in six Tests in his first home series and all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, who returned for the Melbourne Test but failed to impress. Queensland leg-spinner all-rounder Marnus Labuschagne has already been added to the squad for the fourth Test which Australia have to win to deny India their first-ever Test series win Down Under.

Hussey conceded that even though the current Australian team is doing poorly with the bat, there was “no one really screaming out in Shield cricket that is scoring heaps and heaps of runs to warrant a position in this Test team”. He though backed Wade’s call-up saying he is the most deserving among the current batsmen.

‘Matthew Wade is the only one deserving a call for Australia team’

“Matthew Wade springs to mind. Can he open the batting? Well I think that’s poor thinking — he’s a middle order player, he’s had good success with the bat, he’s made two Test hundreds already,” Hussey was quoted as saying on ABC Grandstand on Saturday. “He’s the only one really screaming out for that chance to play for Australia in Test match cricket.”

Wade has played 22 Tests in which he averages over 28 and has two hundreds. He last played in the longer format of the game against Bangladesh in Chittagong in September last year. He was dropped making way for Paine, the current captain, after having a poor run against Bangladesh.

Wade has scored quite a few runs for his home team Tasmania in Australia’s domestic Sheffield Shield cricket last season with three hundreds. This year, too, he has done well in six games in the shield and has done well in the Big Bash League in which he plays for Hobart Hurricanes. Hussey, who has played with Wade in the past, even said that the left-hander shared many traits with current coach Justin Langer.

“I think he’s a Justin Langer clone. Will never give his wicket away cheaply, fights hard for his team, and most importantly he always plays for the team,” Hussey said.

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