Former Australia captain Michael Clarke has slammed the national selectors for dropping “selfless” Matthew Wade to make way for Travis Head for the upcoming tour of South Africa.
Australian selectors picked Head for the South Africa Test tour despite dropping him after first 2 Tests of the home series against India following his scores of 7, 38, and 17, whereas Wade, who scored 173 runs, was shown the exit door despite he took the responsibility of opening in the absence of David Warner.
Recently, Australia announced the 19-man squad for the upcoming three-match Test series as part of the ICC World Test Championship in March 2021.
Read Also: Australia announces squads for South Africa Tests and New Zealand T20Is
Questioning Wade's omission, Clarke wondered why the wicketkeeper-batsman wasn't backed like Joe Burns and Head while slamming the Australian selectors and accusing them of being biased, as well as, asked them why they didn’t discuss Tim Paine’s captaincy or give him some help.
Clarke said on Sky Sports’ Big Sports Breakfast: “What happened to that loyalty they showed to Joe Burns when it came to Matthew Wade. Where has Matthew Wade gone? You batted out of position for them, went to the top of the order, did the right thing for the team, gets back.”
He added, “I know he didn’t score as many runs as they would like but hang on, one minute we’re hearing ‘the incumbent Joe Burns, support, support, support’ then Matthew Wade out the door.”
The former captain also expressed his confusion over the selection trick by saying: “I’m confused. Travis Head was not good enough two weeks ago but now he is back in and better than Wade who was good enough. Did they get the selection wrong two weeks ago when they dropped Travis for Matthew Wade?”
He continued, “Has Travis Head played a game since he was dropped... to fight his way back into the team? So how has he gone back into the team? This is what confuses me and this is why you regularly hear people having a crack at the selectors. They regularly leave themselves open.”
Clarke also sought clarification over Wade’s omission. He added: “Explain why Matthew Wade is not in the squad, explain why Travis Head is back in, explain how you cannot discuss Tim Paine’s performance. They’re either not telling the truth or whoever is having these conversations is missing a trick.”
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On Paine’s role, the Aussie said; “Obviously you have to make the team first but then the captaincy, it would have been spoken about. My question is - so many past players, so many people - the fans of the game - have questioned Painey’s tactics throughout the series.”
He continued, “So, you haven’t questioned his captaincy and you haven’t added anyone, whether it is a player or support staff member to the squad to help him with his tactics. How does he get better? How does he go to South Africa to improve?
It seems like that is an area that he needs help, whether it is extra leadership on the field or extra people around him to help him get better. If you keep doing the same thing you will keep getting the same results.”
I like him, that’s great, stick with your captain if you think he is the right man for the job. Don’t say nothing’s wrong there. Tactically he missed a few tricks and his keeping was nowhere near as good as what I’ve seen from Painey. This is my point about Painey.”
(With Sky Sports Inputs)
