ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2021

November 11, 2021

Matthew Wade

Dubai International Stadium

Australia

Semi Final Post Match Media Conference

Q. Two ends that Pakistani fans will never forget. How hard was it targeting one of the finest bowlers of T20 and current bowler of the tournament Shaheen Afridi? How hard was it targeting him?

MATTHEW WADE: We didn't really target him, to be honest. Marcus Stoinis played a terrific innings to be able to get it to a total we started to think could be chaseable toward the end there. I think the way he played freed me up to be able to do what I did at the end there. Obviously, I was hitting to a little bit of a longer boundary to him. But we felt like the left-arm, the slow balls would spin into me.

I thought of the old target, him a little bit more, I suppose, in that over. I thought if Marcus was there in the last over it would give us a good chance to win the game. If Rauf bowled the last over, he did very well off him -- the previous over, he had faced off him. That was kind of our thinking.

We certainly didn't go into the game targeting. He's a terrific bowler, and I just got lucky tonight, I suppose.

Q. Was that drop a turning point of this match? And my other question, the Australian team is the most experienced team of all teams with a lot of senior players. Do you think in a knockout round, pressure match, experience does matter?

MATTHEW WADE: It certainly helps. Just to be in that situation, I think, even the first game to be batting with Marcus in that South African game and us working really well together and getting some time in helps as well, but experience is key in these games even though we lost a few early wickets and things weren't going our way early.

There was no real panic in the dressing room. We've got experience the whole way down. And the same with the ball. At times it felt like we were going for 12 and 13 and over. With this crowd, it felt like we were behind the game the whole time, but you look at the ball it was seven, eight, nine and over. It wasn't like we were getting put all over the park.

But in those scenarios I think experience really helps to be able to slow the game down a little bit and be able to dictate what we want to do a little bit more. I think T20 we all thought it was going to be a young man's game when we came in. But certainly the more experienced players tend to have a little bit more success towards the back end of their careers.

So, yeah, it's hard to say. The dropped catch, I'm not sure. I think we needed 12 or something, 14 maybe at that stage. I felt like the game was starting to swing in our direction at that stage anyway. I get out there and we're not sure what's going to happen, obviously, but I would still be pretty confident with Pat coming in and Marcus still at the crease, that we could have got the job done anyway. I wouldn't say that was the reason why we won the game.

Q. Australia played very well and made a match. Was there any hope before that catch was dropped?

MATTHEW WADE: As I just said, I think by the time that the catch drop went down I was pretty confident we were in a really good position to get the runs. If that had happened three or four overs before hand, that would dictate the outcome of the game a little bit more.

I think we must have needed 14 because I came back and I think we needed 12 after that. So he takes that, we needed 14 or whatever it was, eight or nine balls. As I said, Patty Cummins was coming in next. Marcus was hitting the ball as well as anyone out there tonight.

You can focus in on the things that happen really late in the game, but there's plenty of things that go on without it -- throughout a whole game that can dictate a little bit. But I don't think -- I hope that wouldn't have too much of an effect, on the outcome of the game.

Q. What did you think -- what was the turning point of the match? Those three run-outs which were missed or that catch drop by Hasan Ali?

MATTHEW WADE: I don't think any of them were the turning points of the match. I think the way Marcus Stoinis batted at the end, to be honest, was probably the turning point of the match.

I think when I came out there, he might have hit the spinner for six, the first ball when I got out there. I think that kind of play, in my eyes, he's really gutsy in those decisions that you make out in the middle, win you games. He could have easily blocked that ball he went for, hit a six and then that total comes down a little bit more.

But I think the turning point of the game I thought was Marcus's over against Rauf. I thought that kind of swung the momentum our way and gave us an opportunity to win the game. It's just an easy thing to do to focus in on missed chances. Yes, maybe it would have gone down late in the last over, but I'm still confident we could have gone home.

Q. How much did the dew affect the teams in the game in general? Were you comfortable with the target?

MATTHEW WADE: There was a little bit of dew out there, I think. You might have to ask the Pakistani fielders, but I felt like the dew was coming in a little bit. The wicket played really, really well.

Yeah, we're confident that we kept the total to something that we could definitely chase. We were probably hoping under the 160 mark, but they got going towards the back end and stretched that total out a little bit. So, yeah, we're confident, and then we lose our captain first over, you start to chase your tail a little bit.

David Warner's innings was terrific as well, to guide us to somewhere where we could launch at the back end. But we were pretty confident we could get them.

Q. You spoke a bit on the winter tour about developing your lap shot, your wrap shots. Could you talk a little bit about how important those came into your game, how they came into the game, and if there was anyone who helped you with that, and how much you sort of rely on that at the end?

MATTHEW WADE: I've had those for a longish period of time. I've been playing them from early on in my career as well. But, yes, certainly something, when I spoke to you guys, was something I needed to tap back into a little bit more when I'm batting down the bottom.

It's easy to have the fine leg up a lot of the time at the end, but someone that laps, it kind of opens up the whole field for you. You've got to either have mid up or third man up or one of the fielders on the offside. It kind of opens the whole field up for you a little bit.

I probably didn't laugh as much as I would have liked early on that innings, but I didn't think they would go pace on as much as what they did. But I was thankful I got a few away at the end. And it's crucial for someone like me in the innings opens up the grounds for me.

Q. I guess yourself and Marcus have been able to work on your finishing ability, because both of you have opened in big fashion so long. And I know we touched on it earlier in the tournament, but your numbers traditionally have been a lot stronger the top of the order than you have when you're batting 6 or 7?

MATTHEW WADE: It's confidence, I think. Confidence in your ability to be able to finish the game. To be able to bat with Marcus has been awesome. Obviously played a lot of cricket with him at Victoria and early on in his career. Obviously saw him grow into the cricketer he is today.

To go out and bat with him certainly gives you a lot of confidence. I know if I can just hang with him for four or five overs, then he's going to find the boundary. He's too good and strong not to.

So the reason that me and him are working well towards the back end is we know each other's game so much. In the optional sessions, the day before the game, you'll find me and Steve Smith and Marcus Stoinis go down again in closed sessions because we haven't got a lot of match practice. It's been invaluable to see what those guys are doing in training, especially Stony, work out his strengths, when he's hitting the ball at his best. And he can see me do exactly the same thing.

There's only three or four batters that go to those sessions. I think they've been invaluable for us to be able to go in there hit a lot of balls be able to see each other work on our games.

And it's really communication has been really cool to be able to, it's been a lot of fun, and try to keep calm probably the biggest thing towards the back end.

It's quite easy for me because I look down at the other end I see he's ready to send it out of the park. Might not be as easy for him to look from the other end.

Q. You spoke a lot about, I guess, playing every game like it's your last with Australia. Was that heightened tonight? Did you feel like your international career might be on the line if the Aussies lost tonight?

MATTHEW WADE: I don't feel like it's on the line anymore so much because I'm not 23 anymore. And if this is it, this is it. It's not really on the line for me. It's going to be all over, I suppose.

A little bit, I think -- I was a little bit nervous coming into the game and knowing potentially it could be the last opportunity to represent Australia.

I just wanted to do well and really wanted us to win this game, give us an opportunity to win the whole thing. We have a great bunch of guys in that dressing room and guys that I have played with for a long, long period of time.

So, yeah, just really -- I feel like this game was probably hard on nerves than maybe what the final will be because now we're in it. We've got nothing to lose. We're going to go out there, do our absolute best.

It might be my last game too. As I've said to you before in the past, I'm comfortable with it. If it is it, then it's it. I'll play as long as they need me and hopefully we can win some games while I'm there.

Q. Before that 2018-19 Ashes series you were dropped from all three formats. Looked like your cards were marked. How do you reflect on what you've achieved since then? You've reinvented yourself as a specialist batsman in Test cricket. And you've captained Australia and what you've done tonight. How do you reflect on coming back from what seemed like the end?

MATTHEW WADE: Yeah, it's hard to reflect on tonight so quickly, to be honest. Hasn't sunk in yet. I'm sure when we get back to the hotel and tomorrow morning it will sink in more about how we went about it than what we just had.

But I'm happy that I got the opportunity to reinvent myself, go away and come back with more confidence and really feel like I belong at the international level now.

You're right, I reinvented myself into a batsman and all of a sudden now I'm playing as a keeper batsman now batting at 7.

I feel like the older I am, the more eyes wide open I am a little bit more about the opportunity I got. Didn't worry me to go down the order. Hasn't worried me at all whether I captained or not. I am just grasping every opportunity I get, like I spoke about before.

I don't know when my last game will be. I treat every one like it potentially could be. I'm sure when it's all over, when I get the tap on the shoulder, I'll look back on the last three or four years and be proud of the way I could come back.

It's not the first time I've come back. I've been probably been dropped four or five probably the most in Australian cricket.

I'm proud that I can come back and hopefully at the end of my career I can look back on what's left and I can be proud that I could contribute to what we've done.

Q. About David Warner's dismissal, what happened there? Turned out to be a huge turning point.

MATTHEW WADE: Haven't had too much time to chat about it. Just passing comments. I think there was a noise, he wasn't sure. Maybe his bat handle clicked or his hand on his bat.

He didn't think that he hit it. But I think Lane at the other end heard the noise. To be fair, the bat was out there. That was the only thing maybe it could have been. He was potentially thinking that he might have hit it.

It's tough in those situations, how many times you see a batter think they haven't hit it and they have. So you need a little bit of reassurance from the other end I suppose.

That's not having to go on Max. Maxy heard a noise. His bat is out there. Hopefully something that doesn't happen in the next match. But we've just got to work it out. The thing is you get two in these formats. We should have used it. That's the way it goes.

Q. At what time point when you were striking the ball that was your strike rate around 100, and the required rate was around more than 12. So, was there pressure on you that you have to hit the next ball very (indiscernible), to maintain your strike rate? Was there any kind of pressure? Or you got the message from Stoinis, just play your natural game and we'll cover that in (indiscernible)?

MATTHEW WADE: There's always pressure when you go out to batting in international cricket. That's what I was saying before about batting with Marcus at the moment, is that we try to slow the game down and work out the best way to tackle the total.

No doubt I would have liked to be striking it a little bit better early. But I think Marcus's innings was underestimated, to be honest. It was terrific innings. Took a lot of pressure off me early and gave me the ability to get in early and get them late. So there's no doubt I was feeling the pressure a little bit.

And Stoney was saying, we'll get these. We'll get these. And in the back of my mind I was thinking I hope you do because I don't think I'll strike one here at the moment. But while he's around I'm confident we can chase any total.