Wade opens up on 'most challenging period'

Matthew Wade has always been a fighter.

Before he was leading the nation to victory from the jaws of defeat in a do-or-die T20 World Cup semi-final, the Australian wicketkeeper-batter was beating cancer as a teenager.

As a 16-year-old the left-hander was diagnosed with testicular cancer and it suddenly became the biggest challenge of his life.

Previously, he'd just been trying to figure out whether he wanted to pursue cricket or footy as a career.

"I was lucky enough to score hundred in the grade final when I was 15," Wade says.

"That's probably when I started taking cricket a little bit more seriously – I wanted to be a football player.

"My old man played VFL, AFL level, so I grew up admiring all the local football in Tassie and that's where I thought that I wanted to be."

It's was football that helped find his shock cancer diagnosis after he was hit in the groin during a game of state footy.

After a while he realised something wasn't right, so he went to the doctor to get it checked out, which is when the tumour was found.

"That was a big part of my life," the 33-year-old recalls.

"But I was lucky that I had good mates in sporting teams, older people in sporting teams that really got me out of the house and got me back in training and sport became a real outlet for me through that period of time.

"That was obviously a challenging time throughout my life but sport certainly pushed me through the other side."

The Hobart Hurricanes captain admits his cancer battle was probably harder on his family than it was on him.

"I was a lot younger and didn’t probably understand what was going on too much," Wade says.

"It was kind of just do this, do that to try and get it better.

"It kind of took a hit on my family more than it did me, I was just kind of 'head down, bum up, get it done'.

"You don't realise until you get to this age how big your family, your parents and my sisters, would have sacrificed a little bit for me to be able to do what I've done but you don't probably realise until you get a bit older and you have kids yourself how much they do sacrifice."

Wade's dad Scott, who played 12 games for Hawthorn between 1981-83, says it was an extremely challenging period for their family.

"Matthew got unbelievable support from his whole family but particularly his mother and then I remember it was about the hair falling out and how he was going to play cricket because he'd put his cricket cap on and he'd pull his cap off and a bunch of his hair would fall out," he says.

"When he first came back, he was batting with just clumps of hair underneath his cap, so a really difficult time for a 16 or 17-year-old young fella but he fought his way through it.

"To be where he is today and whatever he achieves, we're proud of him whether he didn't play an international game or any level of cricket.

"But just to get through that period of time was really challenging, the most challenging period for him, which he probably doesn't realise but it was certainly for his family and the cricket club were enormous in that period."

Scott Wade says former Tasmanian batter Andrew Dykes and the crew at Clarence Cricket Club – the club that Matthew grew up playing for – were "enormously important" in supporting him through the testicular cancer period.

After starring in Australia first ever T20 World Cup triumph last month, Wade is now firmly focused on getting the Hurricanes their first BBL title.

"Everything is going in the right direction, so it'd be nice to get the job done second time around (against the Perth Scorchers on Monday night)," he says.

"I feel like if we get the momentum early in the first four overs we're a tough team to face especially with the bat.

"We've got to get that early momentum, I think that's really key to the way that we play. If I can get the ball rolling a little bit and then D'Arcy (Short) can settle in and then if I get out, (Caleb) Jewell has come in and done a terrific job."

Clubs all over Australia are raising hundreds of thousands of dollars with the Toyota Good For Cricket Raffle. It’s free to participate and clubs gets to keep 100% of the proceeds from every ticket sold. Register now at toyota.com.au/goodforcricketraffle