The son of former Hawthorn player Scott Wade and cousin of Melbourne AFL player Jeremy Howe, Matthew Wade was also a talented footballer growing up in Tasmania before he moved to Victoria to further his cricket career.

Having overcome testicular cancer when he was just 16, the wicketkeeper batsman arrived in Victoria with a fresh perspective on life and within two seasons he had established himself as the first choice wicketkeeper.

He made 83 and took six catches on first-class debut in 2007 and scored a crucial 96 to guide the Bushrangers to victory in the 2009-10 Sheffield Shield final.

He scored 677 runs that season and another 553 the following summer to earn an international Twenty20 call-up before he made his Test debut in the West Indies in 2012 after Brad Haddin returned home due to personal reasons.

Wade took his chance, scoring 106 in the third Test and then posting an unbeaten 102 against Sri Lanka in the 2013 New Year’s Test.

But he lost his Test spot after his form with bat and gloves dropped on the tour of India, with Haddin returning to the side as vice-captain for the Ashes series.