Ashes 2019: Matthew Wade Opens Up on the Battle with Jofra Archer

Matthew Wade and Jofra Archer – the Hobart Hurricanes teammates had a great fight on the field during the Ashes. Wade survived a deadly spell from Archer and scored his second century on the day four of the fifth Ashes Test at The Oval. The spell witnessed speeds of 154kph from Archer as he recalled the memories of his dangerous spell to Steve Smith at Lord’s.

Unfortunately, Wade’s career-best 117 went in vain as England won by 135 runs and levelled the series by 2-2. Wade had to do a lot of hard work to return in the Test squad after he was dropped ahead of the 2017-18 summer. However, he returned to the squad on the back of a successful domestic and Australia A campaign.

“I feel like it’s a good reward, probably like the first Test was, for the amount of runs I’d scored coming into that Test,” Wade said in the press conference. “I feel like I put a lot of work in; from the second until the fourth Test, I thought I was batting as well as I’d batted for the last couple of years.”

“The runs just weren’t reflecting the way I felt I was batting. I was very grateful the selectors gave me the opportunity and obviously saw I was batting well – the runs just hadn’t quite come – to give me the opportunity in this Test. It was rewarding to score some runs, but I would have liked to win the Test,” he added.

While playing, Wade and Archer had enjoyed a tough tussle during the Test and that was a treat to watch as well. However, Wade said he enjoyed the Test and that is why he was adamant to return. He even praised the bowling of Jofra Archer who played an important role in the whole Ashes series for England.

“I’d never played an Ashes series before and the way Jofra has taken to Test cricket, I knew he was obviously a freakish talent, and when he was around the England team I knew he’d be playing this series,” he told.

Wade further added that they thought Jofra Archer would slow down eventually but that certainly didn’t happen. He further jokingly added that Archer might have thought to rip his head off or get him out.

“It was a good battle. There was a little bit of banter, no words really, just good, hard test cricket,” he added.

However, Wade had a good Ashes tour and he is expected to play in the next series against Pakistan. Only Steve Smith (110.57), Marnus Labuschagne (50.42) and Wade (33.7) averaged more than 28 in the tour.

“If I perform the way I have in Shield cricket then hopefully I’ll get my spot,” Wade said. “But if not, then that’s up to selectors in the end. I can only do what I’ve done, and I feel like I’ve shown in the heat of the battle, in a tough series against world-class bowlers that I can stand up against them,” he concluded.