Wade confirms his international retirement and becomes a coach

After years of enjoying playing while his career was on the brink, Matthew Wade finally called time on a 13-year, 225-game international career in all formats.

Wade, who played 36 Tests and 189 limited-overs matches for Australia, announced his retirement from international cricket. He will continue to play white-ball cricket for Tasmania and the Hobart Hurricanes, as well as in some overseas leagues.

Plans for his post-playing career are already underway with the 36-year-old set to be Australia’s fielding and wicketkeeping coach for next month’s T20 series against Pakistan.

Wade played his last Test and ODI in 2021 and freely admitted that his T20I career could have ended that same year if not for his important role in giving Australia its first Men’s T20 World Cup title in the United Arab Emirates.

The wicketkeeper-batsman’s semi-final knock against Pakistan was his finest moment in colorful clothing and saw him retain the gloves for the ICC’s next two T20 events, in 2022 and 2024.

But Australia’s elimination at the hands of eventual champions India in the Caribbean earlier this year spelled the end.

“I’m officially retiring,” Wade, who called time on his first-class career at the end of last summer, told cricket.com.au.

“It’s been a constant discussion on almost every tour or every World Cup I’ve been to in the last three or four years.

“It’s been a very free-flowing conversation I’ve had with George (Bailey, head coach) and Ronnie (coach Andrew McDonald) over the last six months or since the last World Cup ended.

“Even before the last World Cup, we’ve been very open and had very good communication about where I am with my career.

“If we got to the last World Cup and I managed to do some races and win them, then things would maybe look a little bit different and maybe it would continue… it was kind of an understanding between all of us.”

Wade, who recently completed his Level Three coaching certificate and has ambitions to one day be a head coach, backed Josh Inglis to take over as T20I gloveman. The couple will work together during the Pakistan series.

Born in Tasmania, Wade moved to Victoria as a teenager and found himself stuck behind Tim Paine in the first-choice position. He then won four Sheffield Shield titles in his adopted state, two as captain, before returning to the Apple Isle in 2017.

He made his T20I and ODI debut during the summer of 2011-12 before earning his Baggy Green in Barbados in 2012, when Brad Haddin left for personal reasons. He reached his first century in his third Test in Dominica and kept Haddin out of the team until 2013.

Wade battled for the gloves with Paine, Haddin and Peter Nevill in all formats in the following years before a breakthrough Sheffield Shield campaign in 2017-18 saw him earn a Test call-up as a specialist batsman for the 2019 Ashes.

He finished with four Test tons, two during that drawn Ashes campaign, as well as one in ODIs, but arguably his finest hour came when he rescued his team with a 17-ball 41 in the 2021 T20 World Cup semi-final. against Pakistan. .

Left-handed Wade made the No. 7 spot his own after that win, complementing powerful right-handers Tim David and Marcus Stoinis with his wicket-hitting ability. He also served as T20 captain 13 times between December 2020 and February 2024.

Inglis, on the other hand, has emerged as a different style of player during his spells in the team alongside or instead of Wade, being used more through the middle and spending some time as a starter and number 3.

With two veteran T20 players calling it quits after this year’s World Cup (David Warner also played his last international match), Australia now have two years to assemble some new faces ahead of the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.

“We probably realized it after we lost to India,” Wade said. “That’s when I really sat down and reflected that that was probably the end of my career.

“That was an emotional moment. The relationships that I’ve built, more so over the last three years on that team, I really enjoy playing on that team, and I felt really connected to that playing group and that coaching staff.

“That was a real moment where I sat back and reflected, and probably got a little emotional about the whole thing.

“Fortunately I was playing well enough over the last few years, and the way the team lined up with Dave in the team, he was going to bat seven, and they wanted me to continue in that position in the finishing role.

“It was the right time for Ingo (Inglis) to come in. You can see what he’s done in the last (few months) that he’s been in the team as the number one goalkeeper. “He was certainly ready to come in and take that role.

“They are looking for maybe someone who can bat more in the top-middle order now as well and that suits him very well. I am very comfortable and happy that he now has a chance.”

2024 Australia-Pakistan Limited Event Series

Australia ODI Team: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Cooper Connolly, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa

Pakistan ODI Team: Mohammad Rizwan, Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Agha Salman, Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Faisal Akram, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan, Irfan Khan, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi

November 4: MCG, 2.30pm AEDT

November 8: Adelaide Oval, 2.30pm AEDT

November 10: Perth Stadium, 2.30pm AEDT

Australia T20 Team: Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Short, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa

Pakistan T20 Team: Mohammad Rizwan (c), Abbas Afridi, Agha Salman, Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan, Irfan Khan, Jahandad Khan, Naseem Shah, Omair Yousuf, Sahibzada Farhan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Usman Khan.

November 14: Gabba, 19:00 AEDT

November 16: SCG: 7:00 p.m. AEDT

November 18: Bellerive Oval, Hobart, 7:00 pm AEDT

All matches live and exclusive on Fox Cricket and Kayo Sports