VIDEO | ‘Wounded’ Matthew Wade’s cheeky Neil Wagner sledge leaves bowler and commentators in splits

There are three things on a cricket field that Matthew Wade loves to do: bat, fight and sledge. By fight, we’re not referring to physical altercations, but purely his attitude of never backing down and always giving it back to the opposition even when the chips are down. In the final Ashes Test at The Oval earlier this year, the Victorian indulged in a fascinating battle with Jofra Archer - one which included a lot of bouncers and stares - which showcased the ‘bring it on’ attitude with which he plays the game.

And on Day 3, Wade found himself engrossed in another enticing combat, this time with New Zealand’s fiery left-armer Neil Wagner. The Kiwis’ strategy of bombarding the Aussies with short balls accounted for the wickets of five of the hosts’ top six batsmen and despite his teammates falling like a pack of cards, Wade stood tall. Wagner, in particular, kept relentlessly delivering shoulder-high short balls but unlike his teammates, instead of going for flashy big hits, Wade instead decided to cop a few painful blows on his body - his arm and his shoulder in particular.

Wade finished Day 3 unbowed, unbent and unbroken and on the morning of Day 4, the duo continued their battle from the very first over. In fact, this time around, Wade had extra protection just above his wrist, and was almost wilfully copping blows on his body. At one point, it felt like Wade had completely forgotten about the existence of his bat and all he wanted to do was block the deliveries with his body just for the sake of it. Wagner, took, kept coming at him.

And in the 59th over of Australia’s innings, their feud peaked. As he’d been doing all morning, Wagner steamed in on a deteriorating Perth wicket and dug one short, one that rose almost to the shoulder of Wade. And after almost copping YET ANOTHER blow, Wade wasn’t satisfied and instead, decided to stir Wagner up. After evading the bouncer - just narrowly - Wade stared at Wagner before uttering the words “Keep coming, big boy." 

The comment from Wade left both Wagner and all the commentators in splits, who just couldn’t believe the heights Wade was willing to go to, to just extend his ‘mini-battle’ with Wagner. Eventually, Wagner gave a quirky smile to Wade, almost acknowledging and appreciating his courage, to go back to his mark and well, continue bowling bouncers.