Wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Wade has publicly questioned his exclusion from Australia’s Test series against Sri Lanka later this year.

Wade hasn’t played Test cricket since September 2017, but has relished a solid stretch of form for Tasmania in first-class competition this season.

‘It’s disappointing for me,’ Wade told SEN Radio.

‘It seems the criteria when Justin Langer took over was weight of runs, centuries. I feel like I’m ticking all those boxes, and the reason I’m not getting picked is I’m not batting in the top four. It doesn’t really make a lot of sense.’

The right-handed Wade bats predominantly at fourth or fifth position in the order in state cricket.

‘It’s great to see Matthew scoring some runs. But if Matthew wants to be considered as a straight-out batsman, it would be nice to see him batting up a little higher for Tasmania, and that conversation has been had,’ said Cricket Australia chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns.

The 31-year-old referenced fellow batsman Peter Handscomb’s recent recall to the Test XI for the series decider against India at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

‘I’ve been at stages like four for 50 a lot and I think it’s a specialist position, number five and number six. You’ve got to bat with the tail, you probably need someone to set the pace a little bit down there with the tail and kind of build the total a different way than just a specialist batsman,’ added Wade.

‘I think you probably saw that with Peter in the last Test. He batted number six, but he is batting way out of position. He has never really batted too much with the tail in that position. So, yeah, I raised all those points.’

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