Wade is looking to put his previous failures behind him and concentrate on cementing his spot in the national team

Australia wicketkeeper batsman Matthew Wade has admitted that he aware of the increasing competition for his spot on the national team.

Many cricket pundits have criticised Wade over the past couple of series, but it is barely ever linked to his batting, which has looked fabulous, instead it is aimed at his wicketkeeping, which has seen a drop in standards as of late, especially against South Africa, where Wade botched a number of easy catches and stumping opportunities.

While Wade’s struggles with the gloves continue, Tim Paine, who was once on his way to become the greatest Australian keeper in history before being sidelined for a long period of time with a severe finger injury, has slowly clawed his way back onto the radar of the national selectors, while Queensland keeper Chris Hartley has also started to turn some heads with his consistent performances.

Peter Nevill, Tom Triffitt and Peter Handscomb are other names that are worth mentioning as well, but Wade, who knows about all the competition in the domestic circuit, having played a lot of Sheffield Shield matches himself, is more concerned about veteran Brad Haddin, who has been on a roll as of late, scoring century after century and having solid performance after solid performance behind the stumps as well.

“Every time you walk out onto the ground for Australia you’ve got to live that moment,” Wade said. “Every time could be your last.

“So in that regard, I do live the moment I suppose for Australia. I keep an eye on cricket games and, yeah, Hadds is playing really nicely and he was always going to. A world-class player. Anyone who’s played 60 Tests and goes back and plays first-class and domestic cricket is always going to do very well.

“There’s so many good keepers in Australia. It’s not just one or two people. In a matter of months there can be keepers come out of the woodwork and play good cricket so if I’m worried too much about them, then my performance out here is going to be affected. It’s just about preparing well and giving myself the best chance.”

Wade noted that he was disappointed with his performance throughout the South Africa series, especially during the final Test at Perth, where he scored a brilliant 68 and ended up following that with an ugly heave in the second innings to be dismissed for 10 off the bowling of Robin Peterson.

The second Test against the Proteas at Adelaide could well have been Wade’s worst performance with the gloves as he missed a stumping opportunity to remove South Africa captain Graeme Smith and things got even worse from there as he dropped a regulation catch that would have seen the end of Faf du Plessis, who ended up scoring a match-saving 110 not out.

“It plays on your mind definitely after the game, but I was lucky that we had two days off and were starting another Test match,” Wade said. “Everyone was really supportive. I went up there to make something happen, the game was drifting on a little bit, something did happen and it just didn’t stick that day. Two days later I got a catch off Nathan Lyon and it stuck. That’s unfortunately the game I play, one will stick one day and some will fall out others.

“Up to the stumps is where you can really challenge yourself and change a game. You can make or break a game up to the stumps, as simple as that. That when the pressure’s on and I think every keeper likes getting up there and having a real crack, whether it’s a quick or a spinner. It’s going to be interesting, hopefully I get to India and I can keep in similar conditions in the West Indies where it spins a lot more, and challenge myself a little bit more.”

However, despite his failures with the gloves during the South Africa series, Wade is still confident that he will be selected for the upcoming tour of India, which, according to many cricket pundits, will be even more of a challenge since the conditions for a wicketkeeper in the subcontinent are much tougher than almost anywhere else in the world.

But, Wade noted that the lower bounce he experienced during the national team’s tour of the Caribbean suited his smaller size and he would rather stand up to the stumps and keep against spinners instead of the fast and unpredictable bounce many pace bowlers get off the surface in Brisbane or Perth.

“In the West Indies I enjoyed keeping up to the stumps,” Wade said. “Australia’s a different kettle of fish when you keep up, it’s not as much side spin, it’s more bounce, which is probably the hardest thing for me to keep to because of my height, the bounce in the wickets can get up around my chest so that’s probably harder for me.

“In Australia I’ve learned a lot over the past four or five years keeping up to the stumps and I’ve got to continue to improve that. I enjoy keeping up tot he stumps because then you’re in the game, and you’re challenged a lot. In Adelaide I probably didn’t have the greatest game up to the stumps, I kept as well as I did in Perth in Adelaide, I just a missed a couple of chances and it gets highlighted a lot more – as it should – than other things.”

Wade has also admitted that he needs to score runs at a consistent rate since the wicketkeeper role in international cricket has transformed significantly over the past couple of years, whereby they are now expected to be able to score half-centuries and centuries almost at will.

“It’s definitely an allrounder’s position but it’s probably better for the keepers now to have two positions,” Wade said. “Back in the day if you didn’t keep well enough you got dropped, simple as that. Now you’ve got both aspects, batting and keeping, so it’s probably a good thing for us because we’re expected to make runs and keep also – we’ve got two opportunities to do well in the game.”