Matthew Wade says the reasoning he has received from selectors about him not making the Australian Test team “doesn’t really make a lot of sense”.
Wade is the leading run scorer in the Sheffield Shield this season, but wasn’t picked in the Australian team for the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka.
The 31-year-old has revealed the reasoning he has been given from selectors boss Trevor Hohns about his omission.
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“He (Hohns) voiced his opinion about me batting in the top four, I raised that Shaun Marsh bats five for WA,” Wade told SEN Mornings.
“The Bellerive pitch is a tough batting wicket.
"I’ve been at stages like 4/50 a lot and I think it’s a specialist position five and six, you got to bat with the tail, you probably need someone to set the pace a little bit down there with the tail and kind of build the total a different way than just a specialist batsman.
“I think you probably saw that with Pete Handscomb in the last Test. He batted six but he is batting way out of position, he has never really batted too much with the tail in that position.
“I raised all those points.
“It’s disappointing for me, it seems the criteria when Justin took over was weight of runs, 100s, I feel like I’m ticking all those boxes and the reasons I’m not getting picked is I’m not batting in the top four.
“It doesn’t really make a lot of sense.”
Wade expressed how he won’t be putting his personal agenda ahead of Tasmania’s ambitions as a Shield team.
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“That’s the reason that I’m getting, that puts me in a position that’s quite tough because I don’t want to be shuffling players around in the Tassie order just for me to be picked for Australia,” he said.
“I feel like if I give up the gloves completely, go bat at four, it doesn’t pan out as well, I feel like the next thing I’ll be hearing is I can’t be picked as the back up keeper because I’m not keeping.
“It’s a tough situation to be in, I’m not really sure what we’re going to do.
“I’m not going to do it just for my own good.
“We will work out what’s best for Tasmania playing games and if that’s me batting five, batting seven, I don’t really care, I’ll go wherever I have to go.”
In relation to the issue of Shield form being ignored by selectors picking Test teams, Wade said it was “disappointing from a players point of view”.
He also thinks the general public can be too quick to write players off without giving them the opportunity to prove themselves.