Australia wicketkeeper Matthew Wade appears set to leave his post as captain of the Victorian Bushrangers and return to his native state of Tasmania at the end of the summer.

Wade, Australia’s incumbent Test and one-day international gloveman, will end an almost decade-long playing career and four-season captaincy tenure with Victoria at the end of the domestic season to move back to Hobart.

The 29-year-old said he wanted to move back to Hobart for “personal and family reasons” and was confident the move would go ahead despite having a year to run on his contract with Victoria.

“I am currently in discussions with both Cricket Australia, Cricket Victoria and Cricket Tasmania about a possible move back to Tasmania next season for personal and family reasons,” Wade said.

“My wife Julia and I now have a young daughter and both of our families are based in Tasmania so we would like to be closer to them.

“I’m extremely grateful to Cricket Victoria for the opportunities they have given me and also for supporting me in exploring this option.”

Cricket Victoria CEO Tony Dodemaide said while they respect Wade’s desire to move states, they are “disappointed” at the possibility of losing the man who’s led the Bushrangers to the last two Sheffield Shield titles.

“We can confirm we are in early discussions in regards to Matthew’s wish to move closer to his family and respect this,” Dodemaide said.

“We’re naturally disappointed at the prospect of losing our Victorian Bushrangers captain after back to back Shield victories.”

“We will work closely with Cricket Australia and Cricket Tasmania to achieve an appropriate outcome for all parties.”

Complicating matters somewhat is the ongoing Memorandum of Understanding negotiations between Cricket Australia and the Australia Cricketers’ Association.

But Cricket Tasmania cricket general manager Andrew Dykes was confident the move will go ahead despite the unresolved talks between the governing body and the players’ union.

“Due to the ongoing ACA and CA memorandum of understanding negotiations, we are unable to progress any further with state contract negotiations,” Dykes told The Mercury.

“Matt is very keen to relocate back to Tasmania for family reasons, so we will continue ongoing discussions with him in the coming months.

“Cricket Victoria and Cricket Australia are aware of the discussions.”

Wade was born in Tasmania but he left the Apple Isle as a 19-year-old to pursue a first-class career with the Bushrangers.

He made his Test debut in 2012 and replaced Brad Haddin as Australia’s first-choice ‘keeper, before Haddin was reinstated a year later.

Wade returned to the Test side this summer, replacing Peter Nevill in the wake of Australia’s series defeat to South Africa in November.

He was appointed captain of Victoria for the 2013-14 season, replacing Cameron White.

“Having Winter [my daughter] for 11 months now and being on the road almost full time has probably fast-tracked when I thought I was potentially going to be moving down,” Wade told The Mercury.

“It gives me a good opportunity to come into a different environment and a different team.

“Where I’m at in my career, it will be a good thing. It will freshen me up as well and make me get the best out of myself and obviously I’d love to see the Tassie Tigers improve and get better year by year.”

Haddin confirmed his retirement on Wednesday, having left the tour to England to be with his family as his daughter required surgery back in Sydney. He had withdrawn from the second Test at Lord’s, and never got his place back.
But Haddin says he knew his career was over when he decided to step back, and has no regrets about it as he no longer felt the desire to play, or to fight to get his place back from Peter Nevill.

Haddin said: “I came to the realization after Lord’s. I’ve had a privileged run, but I lost the hunger on the Ashes Tour. It was an easy decision to retire.
“It was all about making myself the best cricketer I could be every time I walked out on the training paddock – I probably lost that hunger from there (Lord’s).”

Haddin’s retirement means five veteran players have stepped down in the past two or three months, with Ryan Harris, Michael Clarke, Chris Rogers and Shane Watson also hanging up their spikes.
But Haddin is confident the new skipper, Steve Smith, will have plenty to work with: “It’s an exciting time; I think we can cover all the retirements.

“We’ve got a great leader in Steve Smith and the best thing about Steve at the moment is he’s on top of his game, so he’s going to be a great leader for Australia for a long time.”

Haddin made the announcement ahead of his departure for Australia’s Test tours of the West Indies and the United Kingdom on Monday.

Haddin, 37, has played in 126-match one-day internationals in a career that began against Zimbabwe at Hobart in January 2001 and ended in Australia’s ICC Cricket World Cup final victory over New Zealand in Melbourne in March this year.

Throughout his one-day international career Haddin claimed 170 catches and 11 stumpings, leaving him with the third most dismissals for a wicketkeeper in Australia behind Adam Gilchrist and Ian Healy.

Haddin scored 3,122 runs at an average of 31.53 with a top score of 110.

“I have had a privileged one-day career and I have been fortunate enough to be involved in three Cricket World Cups and now is the right time to walk away,” Haddin said.

“Not many players get to write a script like mine at the end of their careers and I have been lucky enough to do just that after winning a World Cup on home soil.

“I leave the team with Australia ranked number one in the world and I am proud of everything we have achieved.”

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said: “Australian cricket congratulates Brad on a fine one-day international career.

“Throughout the years he well and truly maintained Australia’s proud tradition of outstanding wicketkeeper-batsmen in limited overs cricket.

“He leaves big shoes to fill as a talented player and important senior figure within the team.

“We thank him for his wonderful contribution to one-day cricket and look forward to his continued performances at Test level as the team works hard to retain the Frank Worrell Trophy and the Ashes.”