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Stoinis' bold recall plans boosted by Wade

Allrounder reflects on an unusual lockdown and reveals advice from a cricketer who knows what it's like to be on the outer

Marcus Stoinis spent lockdown training with a Formula One star and an Olympic snowboarder, but the most valuable piece of advice he received during his exile from international cricket may have come from Matthew Wade.

After being discarded by national selectors following last year's ODI World Cup and losing his Australian contract earlier this year, Stoinis had a bone thrown his way last month when selectors named him in an extended squad for Australia's proposed limited-overs tour of England.

While he is not guaranteed a spot on the plane if the trip does go ahead, it shows the 30-year-old remains in the selectors' sights.

Having himself been axed in 2017, former Test wicketkeeper Wade had all but resigned himself to the notion that he would never play for Australia again before he overwhelmed selectors with a weight of runs to storm back into the Australian side in all three forms of the game.

So when he saw Stoinis following a similar path, Wade reached out to his former Victorian teammate.

"I actually had a really good message from 'Wadey' when he found out I didn't have a contract," Stoinis told cricket.com.au.

"He's been in a similar boat throughout his career and he just said, 'Be the best cricketer Marcus Stoinis can be and if you do that every day, that's going to be more than enough to achieve whatever you want to achieve.'

Image Id: 68002C86EC194DF3B59A1E147932B7B8 Image Caption: Stoinis has not played for Australia since last year's World Cup // Getty

"That's pretty much the way I see it at the moment.

"The way I see myself as a cricketer is not going to be based on who decides to give me a contract and who doesn't. I still see myself in a certain way as a cricketer.

"I still see myself wanting to play Test cricket for Australia, one-day cricket for Australia, T20 cricket for Australia. I want to go to the IPL, I want to play Big Bash, I want to play for Western Australia, I want to win a (Sheffield) Shield title with Western Australia."

They are lofty goals that Stoinis hopes will be aided by the extended break afforded to Australia's leading cricketers by the ongoing pandemic.

The allrounder’s struggles with the bat during the World Cup last year were mirrored by struggles with his own body; he pushed through the pain of two side strains to continue bowling all the way through the campaign until Australia's semi-final defeat to England.

Having been on the fringes of the Test team earlier in 2019 in addition to being a limited-overs mainstay, Stoinis was suddenly on the outer in all three formats.

He responded with a dominant KFC BBL campaign with the bat, earning player of the tournament honours despite not bowling until the tournament's final.

Super Stoinis smashes highest score in BBL history

"My body was really struggling come the last 12 months and I was really aware I was giving a lot physically and mentally and I wasn't taking care of myself enough," said Stoinis, who stressed he was loathe to use injury as an excuse for poor performance.

"So I looked at this (pandemic) as an opportunity to reset all of that and fill myself up with energy again. Whether it's getting strong, whether it's getting clear in my mind, whether it's filling my heart up with love from my family, because before you know it there could be an Australian tour and you could be away for five months again.

"So I know all those things are coming so this is the time to charge those batteries up again."

That process was aided by an extended trip to the rural WA farm owned by close friend Daniel Ricciardo, the Formula One driver who grew up with Stoinis in Perth.

Stoinis took part in a punishing fitness regime with Ricciardo and Olympic bronze medallist Scotty James, and the trio remain close.

"Us three, we're quite similar characters in that we have fun and we're quite relaxed but we're also quite in-depth thinkers about what we're doing," said Stoinis.

"It's nice to have people from different fields to put a different perspective on things. It's a nice easy way to get out of your own head, stop thinking about cricket, stop thinking about your own game and going around in circles.

"Sometimes as cricketers, we indulge ourselves in things only cricketers talk about. All the clichés about the pressures of your own game, how important you think it is.

"But then when you talk to someone else about the game, they don't care about any of that."

Their subsequent series of filmed challenges issued to one another - which included golf trick shots, David Attenborough impersonations and a marshmallow eating contest - became a minor viral Instagram sensation that prompted others in forced isolation to send in their own attempts.

Stoinis accused Ricciardo and James of cheating on the raw egg skolling challenge after he had downed four in one hit, but concedes his Attenborough impersonation came off more as Bear Grylls.

"Once things (with the pandemic) started getting more and more serious, we thought, 'Let's start mucking around and doing a few little challenges with each other'," said Stoinis.

"Not only to keep each other entertained but provide a bit of humour, show another side (of ourselves) and not take ourselves too seriously.

"We had a lot of young kids involved in it, trying to do some of the challenges … it was a bit of fun to lighten the mood for ourselves and everyone (else)."