Wade, Nevill vie to be Aussie keeper

The gloves are off in the battle to be Brad Haddin’s long-term replacement in all three formats.

Haddin returned to Sydney for family reasons on Tuesday, an unbefitting end to his international career.

Peter Nevill displaced long-term mentor Haddin during the Ashes, playing in the second, third and fourth Tests.

The 29-year-old is expected to continue as Test keeper in upcoming series against Bangladesh, New Zealand and West Indies.

However, Nevill faces a major challenge from Matthew Wade.

Wade, who spent 12 Tests behind the stumps during Mickey Arthur’s time as coach, was named in Australia’s ODI squad for a series that follows the Ashes.

The Victorian celebrated the call-up by scoring 130 for Australia A on Wednesday.

“In terms of the Test position, who knows what is going to go on there over the next four or five months,” Wade said.

“Obviously Hadds got dropped and Nevvy has taken his chance.

“Time will play out and we’ll see how we go.”

Not since the overlap between Adam Gilchrist and Ian Healy’s careers has Australia had separate ODI and Test keepers.

Chairman of selectors Rod Marsh was cryptic when asked if Wade and Nevill would be sharing the duties.

“We’ll wait and see how it all goes,” Marsh said.

“I don’t think we can be as definite of that just yet.

“I don’t think we can say right now that in five or six years’ time that’ll be the case.”

Marsh, who spent 96 Tests behind the stumps for Australia, noted the national selectors were yet to make a definitive call on either gloveman.

“We want to see a little bit more of both of them at international level,” he said.

“We’ve seen Wadey in the West Indies, we’ve only seen Nev play international cricket in England.”

It’s understood Western Australia’s Sam Whiteman is also highly rated by the selection panel.

However, Whiteman is 23-years-old and unlikely to get a look in too soon.

“You’ve got to remember we’ve got a number of wicketkeepers who are pretty handy back at home,” Marsh said.

“We’ll wait and see how it all pans out.

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