Wade weighs up future in latest job for 'Mr Fix It'

It's a measure of how fallible Australia's Test top-order has proved in the Vodafone Series against India thus far that the player asked to take on an entirely unfamiliar job has looked among the most comfortable in his role.

Matthew Wade has never before been deployed as a specialist opener across more than 13 years as a first-class cricketer, but was parachuted into the position when David Warner was sidelined with a serious groin injury and his likely replacement Will Pucovski suffered the latest in a series of concussions.

With almost four Australia batting innings completed in the four-Test series, Wade is his team's second-highest run scorer behind No.3 Marnus Labuschagne and one of only a handful of top-order players not facing scrutiny in the wake of another batting implosion at the MCG on Monday.

However, the 33-year-old is not certain that tackling the new ball at Test level is on his list of unrequited career ambitions.

"Who knows?" Wade laughed this evening when asked if it was a role he might like to pursue longer-term.

"I want to bat there in white-ball cricket, that's for sure. We'll wait and see with red-ball, I'm not 100 per cent sure.

"If that's the position that is available for me to play, I'll play it.

"If they want me to play another role, I'll play that as well. It doesn't faze me too much.

"Over my career I've batted pretty much everywhere in every team I've played in, so I'm pretty comfortable now in most roles.

"Opening was the one I hadn't really got my teeth into and now I have, I'm happy to do it if the team needs it."

Wade's equivocation means Australia's already vexed national selection panel might face another conundrum if Warner proves himself fit for the third Test starting January 7.

That being, do they stick with in-form Wade at the top or send him back to more familiar territory to shore-up the equally fragile middle-order?

If the panel – chair Trevor Hohns, men's team coach Justin Langer and George Bailey – opt for the latter and decide time has run out for struggling Joe Burns, they might consider recalling Marcus Harris who has been part of the bio-secure 'bubble' since before the first Test in Adelaide.

That would allow Wade to return to number five or six where he has batted in 25 of his 59 Test innings to date, and where he has averaged 35 as well as scoring three of his four Test centuries.

Given the only Australia player to average 35 or more in the current Border-Gavaskar Trophy campaign is captain and keeper Tim Paine (87 runs at 43.50) his contribution further down is clearly and sorely missed.

That need is exacerbated by the lean returns of current middle-order batters Steve Smith (10 runs from four innings at 3.33), Travis Head (62 at 20.66) and rookie allrounder Cameron Green who currently has 40 career runs at 20.

But Green resumes on 17no tomorrow, his highest Test score to date, as Australia's primary hope of turning their current lead of two into something beyond 100 which Wade believes might give them a hope of stealing an unlikely win.

If, as recent history would suggest, Australia can't push on to that three-figure lead and India avoid a repeat of the first Test where their second innings yielded just 36 runs, the urgency to bolster the batting will be heightened with the series deadlocked 1-1.

Bearing in mind India need only to finish with a tied result to retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy, which they famously secured through their first Test series win on Australia soil two summers ago.

Pressure continues to build on Burns who was dismissed today for four, and whose first-class season aggregate is now 125 runs from 13 innings (average 10.41) including an unbeaten half-century in Australia's successful second innings run-chase at Adelaide.

Former Australia allrounder Kerry O'Keeffe, regarded among the most astute observers of batting and bowling techniques, highlighted flaws in Burns' current set-up at the crease that he believes places the Queenslander's future in jeopardy.

"I think it's a flawed technique, and it's so forged I don't think he can get out of it," O'Keeffe said during Fox Sports' coverage of the second Test shortly after Burns was caught behind for four.

"He moves his front foot and picks his bat up at the same time.

"His weight is all wrong. He's neither forward nor back, he's unbalanced and it's basically because of his pick-up.

"You can't play the moving ball on the move.

"I don’t know if you can open against the better bowling with that defensive technique, but it's just my opinion."

Australia's inability to post a total of 200 or more so far in the series has placed the spotlight on batters' tenure, especially at the top of the order where opening partnerships thus far in the Vodafone Series have been 16, 70, 10 and 4.

Noting that India's starts have been demonstrably worse – 0, 7 and 0 in three completed innings to date, with first Test opener Prithvi Shaw already discarded by India's selectors.

Former Australia Test captain Ricky Ponting also believes Warner's potential return spells danger for Burns.

"If you look at Wade and Burns, even in the first innings of this game, it looks to me that Wade is batting a lot better than Joe Burns," Ponting said during commentary for Channel Seven today.

"If Warner comes back, then unfortunately I think right now it probably has to be Burns that goes."

Prior to the first Test, Langer referred to Wade as "almost becoming Mr Fix It" due to his capacity to perform so many jobs, from wicketkeeper, to allrounder, to solid defender, to aggressive counterpuncher.

Should the Australia panel opt to stick with the incumbent pair for the third Test, or replace Burns with Warner if the latter proves himself fit for the third Test, then Wade is happy to continue in a role into which he is quickly growing.

Even if it's one he doesn't envisage filling longer-term.

"I felt pretty comfortable straight away to be honest," he said of his sudden transformation to Test opener 11 days ago.

"Just to walk out and start batting, the worst part about batting is waiting to bat.

"I've always struggled to wait and watch, so just getting out there and getting into it is something I've really enjoyed.

"When Justin (Langer) asked if I was happy to do it, I didn’t really know what to expect but now, after playing a few Test matches, it's fine.

"I'm comfortable in that role."

Vodafone Test Series v India 2020-21

Australia Test squad: Tim Paine (c), Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner

India Test squad: Virat Kohli (c) (first Test only), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj

First Test: Australia won by eight wickets

Second Test: December 26-30, MCG, 10.30am AEDT

Third Test: January 7-11, SCG, 10.30am AEDT

Fourth Test: January 15-19, Gabba, 11am AEDT