Australian wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Wade has insisted that the split training camp wouldn’t have any impact since every player knows his job and role in the team ahead of his team’s first ODI of the three-match series against India starting on 27 November in Sydney.
The Australian white-ball squad has been forced to train separately and is currently stationed at two different places with one group is training under the watchful eyes of head coach Justin Langer at the Sydney Cricket Ground while players like Steve Smith and David Warner – who recently returned from IPL 2020, are training with assistant coach Andrew McDonald across town.
However, Wade admitted that the present situation is “completely different”, but insisted that the team will make “no excuses” for not being able to train as a group for the home series against India since the players are experienced enough to deal with the odd situation.
Well, the two Australian groups will unite late on Thursday night before the first ODI in Sydney, but the players will have no chance to turn up as one unit in a practice session at SCG, whereas, Team India is training for both white-ball and Test series together as one unit after quarantining here.
Wade told cricket.com.au, “We've been in situations like this a little bit before with Test tours being away and T20 taking place but it's obviously something completely different to something we've ever faced before. This group has been together a long time, especially the playing XI, so we turn up on Friday morning and everyone knows their role. There'll be no excuses from our end.”
He further added, “India in quarantine they get to train together, that's a slightly different scenario to us. The positive is that we've all been playing cricket. It's not the off-season. We went to England when we hadn't done any cricket. We've either been back here playing first-class cricket or in the IPL.”
Meanwhile, the wicket-keeper batsman isn’t part of the ODI squad having last played in a 50-over game in 2017 and he admitted there is that only an injury to Alex Carey or someone else can offer him the opportunity to return to Australia’s ODI XI as he is gearing up for the T20I series against India starting 4 December.
He signed off by saying, “For the one-dayers, it gives me a little bit of time to get my game to go in one-day cricket and T20 cricket. I think an injury or a player gets rested then they know I'll come in at the top of the order. If 'Kezza' (Carey) gets injured then I'll take the gloves off him for a game. That's about the only way in at the moment.”
