Knee injury forces Matthew Wade to pull out of English county championship

Australian wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Wade is all set to miss playing for Somerset in the English county championship this summer due to a knee injury.

The 32-year-old was scheduled to join Somerset for the first seven games of the county championship. However, he has decided to put his plans to rest following a discussion with Cricket Australia.

Reflecting on the same, Wade said that he was eagerly looking forward to play English county cricket in the first half of the summer, but he was advised to go on a sustained period of rest due to the knee injury.

"It's a big blow. I was looking forward to the challenge of playing county cricket in England this summer, but after discussions with the Cricket Australia medical team regrettably, it became clear that I wouldn't be in a position to join Somerset," cricket.com.au quoted Wade as saying. 

Somerset director of cricket Andy Hurry, on the other hand, said that it is indeed disappointing for Wade to not feature in the county championship this summer, but added that injuries are part and parcel of the game.

Wade has appeared in a total of 32 Tests, 94 One-Day International (ODI) and 29 Twenty20Is for Australia so far. He has amassed a total of 3,485 runs across all formats of the game.