Wicketkeepers are like umpires: the less you notice them the better. Just as spectators recall an umpire’s howlers and forget the correct decisions, a wicketkeeper is remembered not for his catches, unless they are spectacular, but for his grassed opportunities or missed stumpings. Matthew Wade knows that over the past few weeks, he has been a little more conspicuous than Australia would like – and not just by virtue of unexpectedly bowling an over of medium-pace in Hobart.
As Wade prepares for his first Boxing Day Test, he has tried to put behind him a pair of missed stumpings this summer that have stuck in the minds of onlookers. In Adelaide, Wade gave Graeme Smith a life on 46 when he advanced to the spin of Michael Clarke, and Smith went on to score 122. At Bellerive Oval, he denied Nathan Lyon a wicket when he couldn’t grasp the ball cleanly while Nuwan Kulasekara was down the pitch. The Smith chance was costly, the Kulasekara one not so much. But they were both occasions when Wade couldn’t hide from the spotlight that comes with Test cricket, especially having been chosen over Brad Haddin at the start of the summer. Wade said his primary challenge was to maintain concentration over the course of a Test match; unlike the other fielders, who can get away with drifting off mentally every now and then, a wicketkeeper must always be switched on.
“I’m disappointed, I don’t need to read what’s printed or what’s said in the media for me to get disappointed or thinking about my glovework,” Wade said at the MCG on Thursday. “You can’t miss chances behind the stumps, it’s as simple as that. I’m thankful that this [Hobart] one didn’t cost us as much as what it probably did in Adelaide. When I wake up in the morning I’ve got to be looking forward, if I’m looking back all the time I’m not going to be improving at all and stuff like that is going to keep happening.
“It’s probably concentration, that’s probably what it comes down to. I’ve definitely done enough technically, I do enough training. That’s all I can go back to is finding a way to concentrate for a longer period of time and working on it at training.”
