Struggling Matthew Wade gets warning from selectors

Nagpur: Under-fire Australian wicketkeeper batsman Matthew Wade has been told by the selectors to raise his game as he competes for the Ashes spot with Peter Handscomb.

Wade’s struggle with the bat in Bangladesh have continued in the ongoing series against India as well, and he was dropped from the third ODI in Indore.

On the other hand, Handscomb, while playing as a specialist batsman, was amongst the runs in Bangladesh and has also showed decent form in India. Wade had no hesitation in admitting that he has not been good enough of late.

“I probably have not scored enough runs,” said Wade ahead of the fifth and final ODI here on Sunday.

“My performance has been summed up by me getting dropped in the third game, so there is no point sitting up here and thinking about what has already happened, my form with the bat has not been good enough. The selectors have told me that I need to score runs if I need to be picked.”

However, he insisted that his lean run of form with the bat had nothing do with the sub-continental conditions. “A lot has been made about me failing in Bangladesh and couple of times here but before also I played in India I was batting really well. I would have liked to score more runs in this series but that has not happened. 

“If I go back to the way I was batting in India (during the Test series earlier this year) I played quite well. It is not panic stations yet and I know what I have to do,” he said.

However, Wade feels he has not done much wrong behind the stumps.