Full Q&A: Wade on World Cups, coaching and best moments

Australian World Cup-winner Matthew Wade has hung up the gloves after a 13-year, 225-game all-format international career.

The 36-year-old played his last game for his country in Australia's Super Eight defeat to India at the T20 World Cup in June this year.

He will continue to play white-ball cricket for Tasmania and Hobart Hurricanes, as well as in some overseas leagues, and will be Australia's wicketkeeping and fielding coach for next month's T20 series against Pakistan.

Cricket.com.au journalist Louis Cameron sat down with Wade ahead of the announcement to reflect on his international career.

Louis Cameron: I feel like I've asked you this in every interview for the last three or four years – are you retiring?

Matthew Wade: I'm officially retiring. It's been an ongoing discussion for pretty much every tour or every World Cup that I've been on in the last three or four years. It's been a really fluent conversation that I've had with George (Bailey, chief selector) and 'Ronnie' (coach Andrew McDonald) over the last six months or since the last World Cup finished.

Even leading into the last World Cup, we've been really open and had really great communication around where I'm at with my career. If we went into the last World Cup and I managed to get some runs and we won that, then things would look maybe a little different and maybe I'd keep going … it was just kind of an understanding from all of us.

Did you get home from the World Cup and think 'maybe I could go on?'

Nah… It probably hit home after we lost against India. That was when I really sat down and reflected that that was probably the end of my career. That was an emotional moment. The relationships that I've built, more over the last three years in that team – I really enjoy playing in that team, and I felt really connected to that playing group and that coaching staff. That was a real moment that I sat down and reflected, and probably got a little bit emotional about the whole thing.

Thankfully I was playing well enough for the last couple of years, and the way that the team lined up with Dave (Warner) in the team, that I was going to be batting seven, and they wanted me to continue that position in the finishing role.

The time was right for 'Ingo' (Josh Inglis) to come in. You can see what he's done in the last (few months that) he's been in the team as the No.1 'keeper. He was certainly ready to come in and take that role. They're looking for maybe someone who can bat more top to middle order now as well and that suits him really well. So really comfortable and happy he's got an opportunity now.

So what do your playing commitments look like now?

I'm really committed to continue to play some really good cricket for the Hobart Hurricanes, I'm contracted for this season and next season. At the moment, it probably looks like this time of the year – December, January, February – will be heavily into preparing to be the best player I can be for the BBL period, and post-BBL potentially doing a franchise (tournament) here and there.

Then the months around that, I'm looking to do a lot more coaching and go and experience a few more things outside of cricket also. But I'll be heavily committed to the playing side of things in those (November, December, January) months and being one of the better players in the BBL. Hopefully we can win a title in Hobart, that's my ultimate goal.

What franchise cricket are you looking at?

I'm doing the ILT20 which will be straight after the BBL. I'm doing the (Abu Dhabi) T10, which leads straight into BBL, so I'm going over to Dubai at the end of this month. I've got some Tassie one-dayers that I've been playing as well. I won't be in the IPL.

How did the coaching opportunity with Australia come about and what are your coaching aspirations?

I'll be wicketkeeping and fielding coach for those three T20s against Pakistan. As I said, it's been an open conversation with Andrew McDonald and George Bailey about where I see myself as a player … There's been conversations for a long period of time now about my transition into coaching (as well).

I went and did my Level Three coaching (certificate) a few months ago and have been doing some Tassie youth team stuff, some second-team stuff – just starting to really learn. I know that I don't know everything in the coaching space – although I've played a lot of international cricket, it was really important for me to go back to the youth program in Tassie and learn the basics of coaching, and start to learn off people that have been doing it for a long period of time.

Would you like to be a head coach one day?

Absolutely – that's the main reason to get into the coaching space, I'd love to be a head coach down the track. But I fully understand there's plenty of work to do to even getting close to that.

I've learnt so much already just doing the youth program stuff here and being around different coaches who have been around the game for a long period of time. Then to get an opportunity go to the Australian level – I've talked cricket a lot with guys like Andrew McDonald, Michael di Venuto, George Bailey – we speak about cricket consistently. So it feels like a bit of an extension of me coming from being a (senior) player. Long term I'd like the opportunity to be a head coach but I'm certainly not looking to fast track that.

I'd love to get you to reflect on some aspects of your playing career. That 2021 T20 World Cup seemed to be the start of something special with this current Australian team. The culture may have even carried over into other formats. Is that something you're proud of?

I'm certainly proud of that World Cup-winning side and how we transitioned through that period. Going into that there were question marks about us as players and what we'd achieved in T20 cricket over a period of time. It was a real pivotal moment for a lot of us as a team and individuals. It was a turning point in the T20 International side for sure and something we were really proud of.

We've got a great video that we've had on hold for when you did actually retire…

… so you've had that ready for five years!?

Not quite that long but a couple of months at least. But one of the interesting bits in it is how a few Australia players had a perception of you, but that it changed once they got to know you. Has that been a theme in your life?

I've certainly gotten a perception from the way I've played the game on the ground. And a lot of that's fair enough – I'm ultra-competitive. My dad played footy and was ultra-competitive, all my cousins were the same, that's how I grew up. The perception is warranted, absolutely.

I see myself as having had two international careers. There was the early part where I was a lot more brash and in-your-face, and just young. You're growing up when you start international cricket and people are watching you grow as a player and, more importantly, as a person. I was a completely different player when I came back in 2019 after I moved back to Tassie. I'd had a family, I felt much more settled outside the game. I became a lot more comfortable in my own skin as a person.

But I kind of like it that people saw me differently on the field – I want to be competitive, I want to go and do whatever I can to try and win games for my team at all costs. At times it's cost me a few dollars here and there (laughs). Moving into coaching I'm going to have to continue to monitor that!

And did that change you speak about happening before your Test recall in 2019, did that help your cricket? Do you wish you'd gotten to that point earlier?

I think we all wish we could get to a point like that earlier. But I think that's growing as a cricketer and as a person. Absolutely I wish that I could have gotten there earlier, but everyone in day-to-day life that is now 35 or 40 wishes they could have gotten to a stage (of maturity) in their life sooner. That's no different for cricketers.

You've spoken about Josh Inglis being your likely successor in the T20 side. How good could he be in all formats?

Ingo has been there or thereabouts over the last few years and managed to get his opportunity for the 50-over World Cup. He would have been extremely close to playing the last (T20) World Cup instead of myself, it was just the way the order was shuffled that I got the opportunity to play it. He started the season red-hot – it's nice to see a lot of keepers doing really well at the moment. 'Kez' (Alex Carey) is going really well, Josh Philippe, it looks like the move to NSW has been really good for him. We're in a really good spot keeping wise.

Is it a weird dynamic playing as a batter, who does normally keep wickets, alongside another wicketkeeper?

I don't think it is. Fifteen or 20 years ago it would have been almost unheard of. I'm sure if you speak to Ingo, I don't think he'd care one bit about playing as a bat. I don't Kez (Carey) would mind either. When you get to the top level of playing for Australia, it's about getting the best combination to win Test matches. You saw Kez came in for Ingo in the one-day series and he got a few runs. As players, selectors, coaches, everyone's open-minded these days.

I want to go through some of the 'favourites' of your career before we finish. What was your favourite innings?

Two come to mind when you think about international cricket. One was the 2019 Ashes, when I came back in the first Test. I had been out of the team for a long period of time and scored a hundred, that was really memorable moment for me. I never thought I'd get back there.

The other one is the semi-final against Pakistan in the World Cup in 2021. That's probably the innings that people remember most. But I can't really split the two to be honest – one in Test cricket and one in T20 cricket. They're vastly different performances.

Favourite catch?

I didn't take too many good ones! It would probably have to be one at the MCG against Sri Lanka. It might have been Mitchell Johnson's 200th wicket, Kumar Sangakkara batting. I ran back with the flight – I'd always wanted to play AFL at the MCG and that was the closest I got to taking a mark running back. That was probably the best catch I took in Test cricket.

Favourite on-field moment?

Winning the World Cup, without a doubt.

Favourite off-field moment?

The celebrations in 2021 were very, very fun. Test victories are huge – my first Test match victory in Barbados was one I look back on. But just spending time with the boys … it's been so much fun the last three years, I'm much more comfortable in myself and around that team. You can just be yourself, go on each tour and have a blast. We're very lucky in that sense.

Favourite domestic cricket achievement?

Winning Shields, especially early on in my career, they were huge for me at the time. The one we won against Queensland (in 2009-10) when we were in a lot of trouble, and I managed to get some runs and drag us out. I'm really proud of being part of the Victorian team that won three Shields in a row.

Favourite teammate?

Jon Holland was in my wedding party, so I'd have to say him. We played under-19s for Australia together and then he looked after me a lot, him and his family, when I first came to Victoria. On Australian tours you become so tight with everyone – 'Stoiny' (Marcus Stoinis) I knew from Victoria, 'Zamps' (Adam Zampa), 'Hoff' (Josh Hazlewood) and all the bowlers. That group is really tight off the field.