Need to improve my batting in order to get picked: Australia keeper Wade

Australia wicket-keeper Mathew Wade, who was dropped in the last One-Day International (ODI) game against India, admitted he needs to score more runs in order to get picked.

Australia have already lost the ODI series 1-3 but won without him in Bengaluru. Peter Handsomb was doing the glovework behind the stumps in Bengaluru.

"The selectors haven't told me they've got any worries about my 'keeping," Wade said ahead of the fifth ODI against India here on Sunday.

"It's got nothing to do with that, I just need to score some runs. My performances with the bat haven't been good enough.

"That's what the selectors have told me, that I need to score some runs so I'll have to do that if I want to get picked," Wade, who has managed just 14 runs in three matches, said.

Wade's glovework also came in for criticism on the recent Test tour of Bangladesh after he conceded 30 byes in the first Test.

"I thought I kept quite well. I know there was a lot of talk over the first Test with me letting through some byes. But you only have to look at their 'keeper, who keeps in those conditions all the time, he was pretty similar," he said of his performances in Bangladesh.

"I thought I took some good chances, especially in the second Test, and I've been pretty good here. On the back of India (for the Test series in February-March), where I thought I kept really well."

Wade has an average of 20 in 10 Tests overall since he unseated Nevill last summer.

Now he has to score more runs at the start of the Shield season to have any chance of holding his spot for the Ashes.

"(The Shield games will) be crucial for my chances but I'm not worried about it though. I've got to score runs whenever I go out to bat," he said.

"I've been doing all the hard work, it just hasn't been happening for me yet. A lot has been spoken about the fact I failed in the Test matches in Bangladesh and I failed here (in the one-day series). Before that, I played in India (for the Tests) and I was batting really well.

"So it's not panic stations, we'll just keep working hard."

--IANS

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