Chittagong Test: Australia might replace wicketkeeper Matthew Wade with Peter Handscomb

Chittagong, Sep 3: Steve Smith says Australia are still discussing whether to drop wicketkeeper Matthew Wade for the second Test with Bangladesh.

Wade has averaged just 21 with the bat since being recalled to his country's five-day team last November and made scores of five and four in the first-Test defeat in Mirpur.

As a result, Australia are considering handing the gloves to part-time keeper Peter Handscomb, who has played all of his Tests so far as a specialist batsman.

"We are still talking about it, it is obviously an option," said Smith on the eve of Monday's opening day in Chittagong.

"We have got Petey here who can keep, and that will give us the option to play another spinner or another batter, whatever we want to do.

"We'll think about it and if we need him to take that role then he will have a catch at training [on Sunday] and he'll be good to go.

"He's been working on his keeping before we came away and I think he's taking the gloves for Victoria in the one-dayers when he gets home. So he certainly has kept and we've seen him keep before and he's done a good job. If we go that way we are confident that he will do a good job.

"It certainly would be a tough call. I think when we are looking at Matty, we just need a little bit more from him with the bat in particular. He knows that he has to do a little bit better with the bat."

Snaps of Bangladesh Team practice today at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong ahead of the second Test. #BANvAUS pic.twitter.com/jQTHDVPkrH

— Bangladesh Cricket (@BCBtigers) September 3, 2017

Former Australia keeper Ian Healy said on Saturday it would be a mistake to put Handscomb behind the stumps in Chittagong.

"You risk compromising Handscomb's batting, and I don't imagine the bowlers would be filled with confidence knowing there's a part-timer at the other end with the gloves on," Healy told Wide World of Sports.

Source: OPTA