VIDEO | Matthew Wade’s 'messy' Lionel Messi impression results in comical collision with Nathan Lyon

There’s something about the floodlights in Perth, isn’t it? For the fourth day running, as soon as the lights took full effect, the players started behaving weirdly, every ball became extra dramatic and it was as if we were watching a completely different match, in stark contrast to the morning sessions which were, in all honesty, a bit boring. 

It was Labsuchagne on Friday, Santner and Aleem Dar on Saturday, and today, on Sunday, it was the turn of Matthew Wade to be the ‘designated clown’. In case you didn’t know, Wade was a junior football player during his younger days (Football as in Australian rules Football, not soccer) and today we got to know why the Victorian never tried his hand at ‘Soccer’, ever.

With the lights having taken and with Australia searching for a breakthrough, on the first ball of the 45th over, a determined Pat Cummins landed one on a good length to the big man de Grandhomme, who, by the looks of things, gave away the impression that he was there to hit. But much to everyone’s surprise, the Kiwi instead played an orthodox forward defence to that very delivery,  which he didn’t quite perfect, as it took a slight bottom edge and rolled in the ground. 

What followed next was comical, hilarious and honestly, something only Matty Wade could pull off. With de Grandhomme having wandered out of his crease and with the ball somewhere near silly point, Wade came racing towards the pink cherry and tried to ‘backheel’ it Messi-style in an attempt to run the Kiwi out. However, the contact Wade managed to get was so bad that with minimal pace, it managed to reach CDG’s bat, which was nowhere near the stumps.

And on top of this failed backheel, Wade, who was ball-watching, ended up colliding with Lyon who was also charging towards the ball from backward point. Althought the collission was mininmal, both players did their best to make it hundred times more dramatic, which, in fact, made for great viewing. 

Let’s just say that Matthew Wade is not as good a Footballer as he is a Cricketer.