Amazingly, three of the contenders are all eventually going to be fighting for a place in the Tasmanian team before they get to challenge for the Australian team. Matthew Wade has returned home from India, while Tim Paine has replaced him for the 3 T20 internationals in India. While they have both been away, Ben Dunk has taken on the role with the gloves while opening the batting in the JLT Cup. Dunk also has represented Australia as a keeper in the T20 format.
Wade of course is the Test and ODI incumbent, and has been since he was chosen over Peter Nevill for the Adelaide Test last summer. He was brought in to the team almost specifically to score more runs than Nevill had been producing, despite the fact that Nevill is a much more accomplished keeper, a fact that was proven by Nevill’s selection over Wade for the T20 World Cup in 2016 in India, where the selectors decided that the team needed sure gloves ahead of late order runs to progress. It has been a bone of contention ever since, and it still isn’t close to being resolved. Despite the selectors showing faith, and his teammates coming out in support of how good he is in the dressing room, there are few around the country that share that enthusiasm. The sheer fact that he averages less than Nevill with the bat in the time he has been back in the Australian team means that the team is actually worse off than it was this time last year in terms of dismissals and runs from its national keeper. But that doesn’t mean he will be discarded.
Tim Paine could quite probably currently be Australia’s keeper if it was not for the horrendous injury he suffered in a meaningless game in Brisbane a few years ago. It put him out of the game at a time that his chance appeared destined to arrive, a chance that eventually went to Matthew Wade. While he is still well regarded as a keeper, the coming battle for the gloves in Tasmania would appear to block any chance he has of making a surprise return to the Test team. He is very unfortunate, as he has always looked a safe prospect.
Peter Nevill’s 12 months has been topsy turvey. He batted for near on a day in Perth last summer in the 1st Test against South Africa to try and draw that match, and his 61 was disciplined and brave. Yet one Test later he was discarded, the victim no less of the fact that the batsmen in the team were incapable of scoring enough runs to win a match, and so the wicket-keeper who had done nothing wrong with the gloves was moved on. It is a signature poor selection from the Australian selectors, and one they have still not lived down – nor rectified. So what did Nevill do? He went back to the Shield, and promptly made three centuries with a top score of 179 not out, and averaged 56.81 for the season. So far in the JLT Cup he has scored runs quickly but briefly at the end of run chases, but with the gloves he has been superb, highlighted by the game against the CAXI when he made eight dismissals in an innings – 6 catches and 2 stumping’s – equalling the world record for most dismissals in an innings by a wicket-keeper. His 2017 compared to Wade’s 2017 really is a case study.
South Australia’s Alex Carey has been putting forward a case for a fresh start with the national keeping position, and doing it boldly and bluntly. The junior AFL and cricket star came to the fore last season, snaring 59 dismissals for the season in eleven matches, more than double of the next keeper (Peter Nevill). He also scored 594 runs at a healthy average of 33.00. So far in the JLT Cup he has made quick runs as an opener, and continued to show talent with the gloves behind the stumps.
Leading up to the 1st Test squad announcement, the form of all keepers, but these four in particular, will be paramount. They will want to be flawless behind the sticks, and productive in front of them. Even so, the question to be asked will be this - Will the selectors want to make a change? Will they be bold enough to make a change that is warranted? Or will they believe that their judgement has been correct and stick to their convictions?
The danger in retaining Matthew Wade is that any missed chances with the gloves, or a continued lack of runs with the bat, will raise the pressure cauldron on him with each passing moment. If he starts the series in Brisbane and cannot do the job any better than he has since his return last season, it means both the selectors and his teammates will also be under constant pressure. If the team wins then that pressure will be bearable and probably acceptable. If the team loses it will be a different story altogether, which would then create the possibility of a change in that position, which will only retain that pressure in the interim.
If the selectors were to go with Peter Nevill for Brisbane, then the media will likely have him under pressure immediately to prove he can score the amount of runs that the selectors felt he DIDN’T do in his last shot at the role. Some will see it as a backward step, possibly a selection out of necessity rather than correcting an error - and no matter how clean his glove work is, if he doesn’t score runs that are deemed necessary, the pressure on his position will continue as before. It is a problem of the selectors making with their selection of Wade over Nevill last season, and it is one that cannot be solved until the selectors ensure they make clear that they are picking the best gloveman in the country to be the custodian of the Test team.
Alex Carey is the young gun whose name has surfaced in the last 12 months as a possible future candidate. He was named to go on the A tour to South Africa, and his batting has impressed. But it is his glove work that gets him into the queue. Without it you can’t make the role your own. Last season Carey made 59 dismissals behind the stumps, breaking the previous record for most dismissals in a season. Obviously you have to have a good bowling attack to help you break such a record, and there is little doubt that Sayers, Mennie, Richardson and Zampa helped him enormously.
The question that may well be asked is this - would going in with a clean slate for Brisbane create a new beginning for the team? Or would it cause an anxiety that would not be beneficial? Would the passing over of both Wade and Nevill as players who have been given an opportunity but not taken it, in favour of a brand new option in the hope of creating a long term servant in the position, be a turning point? Australia’s selection of Rod Marsh over Brian Taber in 1970 and Ian Healy over several candidates in 1988 were out of the blue selections that were heavily debated for 12 months after they were made. Both men served Australia for over a decade in the role and both are rated at the top of the tree both for Australia and worldwide. Is it time to reset once again?
The question that may well be asked is this - would going in with a clean slate for Brisbane create a new beginning for the team? Or would it cause an anxiety that would not be beneficial? Would the passing over of both Wade and Nevill as players who have been given an opportunity but not taken it, in favour of a brand new option in the hope of creating a long term servant in the position, be a turning point? Australia’s selection of Rod Marsh over Brian Taber in 1970 and Ian Healy over several candidates in 1988 were out of the blue selections that were heavily debated for 12 months after they were made. Both men served Australia for over a decade in the role and both are rated at the top of the tree both for Australia and worldwide. Is it time to reset once again?
Everyone will have their own opinion on this position, and in my house the opinion that ‘any keeper in Australia would be a better proposition than Matthew Wade’ has been heard to be floated whenever the cricket is on TV. Hopefully the discussion within the selection panel will seriously consider what needs to be done about the wicket-keeping role, and selects the person who most deserves to be there on their ability with the gloves rather than any runs they may possibly make in order to cover up for the failures of the top six with the bat. Surely if this is the main consideration, then we will have a different keeper on November 23rd in Brisbane.
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