To state the obvious, Peter Nevill made a big Hobart century a fortnight too late. The dumped Test gloveman produced a superb 179 against Sheffield Shield strugglers Tasmania at the weekend. Had he made even half of that in one of Australia's dual batting capitulations against South Africa in the second Test, instead of three and six, it's hard to fathom how he could have been dropped for Matthew Wade ahead of the Adelaide match. But with a Test average of just 22, and lacking the incessant noise of his Victorian rival, Nevill lost his place, and is no guarantee to wear the baggy green in the middle again.
Australian coach Darren Lehmann praised Nevill's response to his axing. "Yeah it was a fantastic knock," Lehmann said. But then came the qualifying remark: "Would have loved that 179 in a Test match so that's the difference probably."
Lehmann – who as well as being coach is also a national selector – said the selection panel hadn't put "a line through" any of the players omitted after the Hobart disaster. Indeed panel chairman Trevor Hohns described Nevill as being "very unlucky" to be left out of the squad for Adelaide, with Nevill's subsequent knock only fuelling the arguments of those who favour the NSW keeper for the role as Australia's first-choice gloveman.
Oddly after the third Test, the narrative in the Wade v Nevill debate had flipped somewhat. For months, Nevill's Test batting record – substantially inferior to that of Wade – had been tolerated because of his reputation as the nation's best pure wicketkeeper. The hard-to-shake perception of Wade – established early in his first-class career with the Bushrangers – had been that of a very good batsman who was unreliable with the gloves. He notched two tons in his first nine months in the Test team, but when he failed to fire with the bat in Australia's nightmare Test tour of India in early 2013, his sloppiness behind the stumps in the subcontinent was brought sharply into focus. His Test batting record remained reasonably strong, but after the off-field dramas of the "homeworkgate" tour, Australia badly needed an influx of leadership, and Brad Haddin returned for that year's Ashes tour as first-choice keeper – and perhaps more importantly – a sturdy vice-captain to Michael Clarke.
By the time Haddin's grip on the national wicket-keeping gloves had loosened two years later, it was Nevill – not Wade – who had emerged as Haddin's clear replacement, after averaging 76 in the preceding shield season. But while Nevill's work behind the stumps was unsurprisingly tidy, and his batting stubborn, an average in the low 20s was always going to be a hard sell, even if Nevill's first-class batting average is almost identical to Wade's.
Upon recalling Wade, Hohns said the Victorian captain's keeping had improved significantly. And Wade was praised for his glovework in Adelaide – where he took six catches and pulled off the first-innings stumping of Kagiso Rabada – even though he was criticised for failing to call for a catch that was spilt by Matt Renshaw at first slip. One of Wade's critics was long-time Test wicketkeeper Ian Healy, who only a fortnight ago said Nevill should keep his spot for the Adelaide Test. But despite those earlier comments, Healy said Wade now deserved an extended run in the team – even though he made just four in his sole innings of his Test recall. Healy cited the omission of South Australian batsman Callum Ferguson after just one Test – as the way not to treat players.
"Once you give away a baggy green, you don't give it away again lightly," Healy said on Tuesday.
"You're always going to miss chances, so [Wade's] just got to minimise those – which he's doing, and be handy with the bat."
As for Nevill – two years Wade's senior – the message from Healy was one of perseverance. "That's the reality. Once you give up the gloves in the Australian team, you don't get them back easily," Healy said. "He's got to wicket-keep well, and he's got to bat handily. He doesn't have to make 179 every day. But he's just got to stay fit and fresh and he's just one injury from getting that job back."
In announcing the Adelaide Test squad last week, Hohns also said Wade's energetic and confrontational style had played a part in his selection. While its effectiveness remains debatable – Wade delivered when it came to noise behind the stumps.
A former insider who has worked with both Wade and Nevill said on Tuesday that while Wade could fairly be described as "abrasive," and had a pronounced competitive streak that means he doesn't care what others think of him, to suggest that Nevill was lacking mental toughness or resilience just because he isn't as overtly fierce as his fellow wicketkeeper would be to do him a disservice.
With a stint in the wilderness looming, that resilience is set to be tested.
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