Retired Australian wicketkeeper Matthew Wade looks set to spend time on the sidelines this BBL series, after a calf injury forced him out of Wednesday night’s record-breaking loss to the Melbourne Renegades.
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On what was already a brutal night for the Hobart Hurricanes, the inevitable sidelining of their first-choice keeper will make their plans on a redemption win that little bit harder on Saturday in Perth.
In his own words while speaking to Fox Cricket mic’d up in the field against the Renegades, the 36-year-old felt a “twinge” in his calf at the very start of the Melbourne Renegades’ innings; in what was his 100th career BBL game.
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“I’ve never done one before, so I’m going to go off and get a look at it,” Wade told commentator Mark Howard, who very quickly noticed him moving gingerly behind the stumps.
“Thankfully, we’ve got 10 keepers in our squad, so we’ll get another one out here for a second.
“It feels like cramp, but I’ve never done one.”
While Wade’s joking reference to having 10 glovemen in their squad was a stretch, he did have multiple teammates in Ben McDermott and substitute Caleb Jewell who could replace him while he got assessed.
But understandably, the 36-Test player was reluctant to rotate mid-over, given it would bring the fast-paced game to an awkward halt.
“Ben (McDermott’s) got to go get his gear on for a start … and I don’t really want to stop the game and embarrass myself. We’ll see how we go!” Wade added during play.
And as he elaborated on post-game, even if he did want to go off mid-over, he couldn’t do so until his teammates were ready to wicket-keep with their own gear — which took another over or two.
“I don’t know what happened there; I was trying to get Jewell to come on (at over’s end) so McDermott could come off and get his gear … I think McDermott said that he had his gloves, but didn’t have his gloves! So then he borrowed Jewlly’s gloves,” Wade explained.
“That was a bit of a merry-go-round!”
McDermott, Wade’s eventual replacement behind the stumps, finished with two dismissals for the night as the Renegades won by six wickets with 11 overs to spare.
Quizzed post-game by Fox Cricket on the extent of his injury, Wade still wasn’t entirely sure — but suspected that he would miss Saturday’s trip west to play the Perth Scorchers.
“I don’t really know (how bad it is); I’ve never done a soft tissue injury … we’ll just monitor it over the next couple of days,” revealed Wade.
“We’ve got a short turnaround, so whether it be that I miss the next one … one (game) at worst I’m hoping, but we’ll wait and see and get a scan when I go back.
“(The physio’s) hoping it’s the bigger muscle in my calf, which is a positive apparently, so hopefully it’s just a strain; that’d be best-case scenario.”
‘His glove might fly off here!’ | 00:46
Wade was the first batter to be dismissed amid Hobart’s franchise record-low score at GMHBA Stadium, nicking off to Tom Rogers in the second over for five.
Reflecting on the loss, the Tasmanian was upbeat — noting that his side will analyse the match appropriately before looking ahead to their next challenge.
“We’re committed to making sure that we go through every game this year and make sure we get the things out of it that we need,” Wade told viewers.
“The positives were that I thought we bowled reasonably well and we were really energetic in the field, which is something we’ve got a real focus on this year.”
The Hurricanes’ clash with the Scorchers will start at 4pm AEDT (1pm local time) this Saturday at Optus Stadium.
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