NEWS
Follow UsAustralia wicketkeeper Matthew Wade has backed David Warner and Aaron Finch to come good in the remainder of the tournament. He says that the openers are not out of form, but just short of runs at the moment.
Australia take on Sri Lanka in their second match of the tournament, having defeated South Africa by five wickets in the first. "I don't see a lack of form at all. They're terrific players. They're just short of runs. To be honest, guys that are world-class players for as long as they have been in this format are never out of form. They're just short of runs at the moment," Wade said at a pre-match press conference.
"We back them wholeheartedly. It's been spoken a lot about going into this tour about Davey especially. We know he'll come good. I've played long enough with him now that he's been under pressure plenty of times in his career, comes out, has a big score."
"So whether it's this game or whether it's a few games down the track, those two will definitely pile on some runs for us. We're sure of that," he added.
Speaking on the challenges the Australian batsmen will face when facing the Sri Lanka spinners like Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana, Wade said, "Yes, they have some terrific spin options and match winners, especially. We'll have to be at the top of our game against the spin."
"We've got some terrific players, our spin ourself, Smith and Maxwell, those kinds of guys will be really important for us tomorrow. Hopefully, they can bat through that middle over period and we can back end it a little bit more than what we did in the first game."
"It's an exciting challenge. We know if we're going to go deep into this tournament then we'll have to play spin really well. And we're looking forward to the challenge." the wicketkeeper-batsman added.
Wade is now considered a finisher in the side along with Marcus Stoinis. It was not long before Wade was opening the innings for Australia but now is seen as someone who could play low down the order and finish the game for his side. Wade says that he is comfortable batting in the middle-order.
"I'm starting to feel reasonably comfortable. Coming into this tournament I've done it for a long, long period of time. I just probably haven't gone back there for the last few years. So I'm really enjoying the challenge," Wade explained.
"Loved the end of the innings batting with Marcus Stoinis, who obviously played a lot of cricket with him in Victoria, and we really enjoyed that out there. So going forward in the tournament, I'm probably more excited than anything about just getting out there and trying to finish some games for the team."
"And it's nice that we can have me and Stoinis down there at the bottom there. We didn't even use Pat the other day. So with the firepower we got at the top, if those guys get going, we have plenty of batting down in the order," he further added.
Wade scored a 10-ball 15, while Stoinis hit 24 off 16 against South Africa in a low-scoring match in Abu Dhabi. However, they will play their next three matches in Dubai, starting with the game against Sri Lanka on Thursday (October 28).