Can a 'keeper cure our batting woes?

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Matthew Wade is hoping to get back into the Test side as a batsman. Picture: Brett Costello. Source:News Limited

IT says something of Australia's plight that a potential solution to its batting woes is a wicketkeeper. Even one, like Matthew Wade, who has scored two Test centuries.

Wade is well aware a good score against Sussex in the three-day tour match starting Friday will give him a chance to regain the place he lost when Brad Haddin was recalled as vice-captain.

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"I think that is true for every player who plays in this match and dominates, scores 150 or 200, their name is going to be put up to play," says Wade.

"Everyone knows that. I'm definitely not going into the game thinking that way. But that's just the way it is, if someone scores big they are a chance to play for sure."

Wade, who averaged a respectable 34.61 in 12 Tests, was an unfortunate victim of Australia's leadership vacuum, with Haddin drafted to replace Shane Watson as Michael Clarke's deputy.

Some sub-par performances with the gloves had also harmed Wade's cause.

While obviously disappointed to lose his spot, Wade says he was at least aware Haddin would play as wicketkeeper before he came on tour.

Accordingly, he has used his time on the sidelines to observe and learn.

"It's been a good experience," says Wade. "I've never been on an Ashes tour, so to sit on the sidelines and take it all in from the other side of the ropes has been good.

"The pressure and the expectations are higher than I'd ever experienced.

"It definitely makes me more hungry for my next opportunity and hopefully that will be for a longer period of time. It makes me a lot more hungry to nail my spot next time I get a chance."

Given Australia's batting woes, that chance might come with the bat rather than the gloves. A mixed blessing given the excellence of the English attack.

"It's been terrific, world class," says Wade of the English bowling. "It's been the best I've seen in the 18 months I've been around Test cricket.

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"We knew their bowlers would be hard work. I'd love to have the opportunity to have a crack at them."

The demands of the modern wicketkeeper-batsman are high. As Wade says: "Adam Gilchrist ruined that for everyone."

But if Wade's bat is needed here, inevitably it could be his keeping that determines his long-term future.

He worked hard before the tour at the Centre of Excellence with Ian Healy, and is confident he can improve glovework that has been the source of some criticism.

"When I started keeping at 15, I improved a lot to get to first class cricket," says Wade. "Then when I got to first class cricket I had to improve a massive amount to even be successful in that competition.

"It is exactly the same here. You have to get better just to keep your spot. If you stay the same, you're going to find yourself on the sidelines like I am."