Wade: I'd be Stupid not to Learn from Haddin
Matthew Wade is looking forward to working alongside Brad Haddin during Australia's tour of the West Indies next month.
Picked ahead of Haddin for the ongoing ODI tri-series, Wade was on Wednesday named as one of two wicketkeeper-batsmen for the five ODIs and two Twenty20 Internationals in the Caribbean.
After impressing behind the stumps and with the bat against India and Sri Lanka, the 24-year-old Wade is expected to be added to the squad for the three Tests against the Windies, which get underway in April.
For now, though, the talented right-hander's focus is fixed solely on his role in the limited-overs fold, where he hoped to gain advice and technical insight from a team-mate 10 years his senior.
"I think we can definitely work well together," said Wade. "I know Brad reasonably well. I spoke to him recently and he also gave me a call when I got picked for the one-dayers in the tri-series.
"He has been really giving. Hopefully we can both work well together. I can't see there being any problem. I'm just starting international cricket and he's been playing a long time. I'm just going to be looking to learn off him. I'd be stupid not to."
The Tasmanian, in his first year of international cricket, refused to get ahead of himself in anticipation of a Test call-up. Chairman of selectors John Inverarity recently made it clear that Haddin remains in Australia's Test plans ahead of the 2013 Ashes series in England, with Wade set to act as his understudy.
"At the moment I'm keeping in the one-dayers and the Twenty20s, so most of my attention is going towards that. I haven't really even thought that far down the track - the West Indies Test series," added Wade.
"I'm involved in a pretty big series at the moment, so I haven't thought too far down the track. Every time I go out on the cricket pitch I'm looking to play my best."
The Australian ODI squad to face the Windies also brought the call-ups of Twenty20 captain George Bailey and Test spinner Nathan Lyon, while there was no place for seamers Mitchell Starc and Ryan Harris.
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