Matthew Wade pulls off a 'Michael Jackson move' on the opening day of Boxing Day Test

There is no dearth of entertainment from cricketers nowadays. Be it a bizarre execution of shot or a sensational catch or an eye-catching celebration, the players are always up to something to make it a point before the fans. However, there is another form of entertainment too and that is more unplanned and becomes a major source of embarrassment for the players at times even if they leave the spectators in split.

Melbourne remained a witness to one such episode on the Boxing Day as Australia took on New Zealand. Matthew Wade was batting at No.5 along with Steven Smith and was facing paceman Neil Wagner who took seven wickets in the first game in Perth. There, too, Wade was in the headlines for adopting a bizarre method to deal with short deliveries.

At the MCG, he made the news again — for coming up with a Michael Jackson move on the 22 yards while playing Wagner’s short balls. The 32-year-old showed the pop king’s ‘Anti Gravity’ lean from his hit song ‘Smooth Criminal’ as the Kangaroos battled the spirited Kiwis eyeing an equalizer in the series.

Cricket Australia posted a tweet comparing Wade’s gesture with that of the late pop star and captioned the hilarious post as “Wadey, are you ok? Are you ok, Wadey?” The batsman also tried the same tactic against the seasoned New Zealander spearheads Trent Boult and Tim Southee.

Wadey, are you ok? Are you ok, Wadey?#AUSvNZ pic.twitter.com/m3wobUeuB0

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 26, 2019

Matthew Wade added 72 runs with Steve Smith for the fourth wicket

Wade, who scored a fifty in the Pakistan series, fell for 38 off 78 balls after adding 72 crucial runs with Smith (77 not out) as Australia ended the Boxing Day at 257 for 4. He was caught by wicketkeeper BJ Watling off the bowling of pacer Colin de Grandhomme, the most successful bowler for the visitors on the day with 2 for 48.

New Zealand bowlers came hard at the Australian bowler after their captain Kane Williamson won the toss and elected to field. They lost two wickets for 60-odd runs in the first session before Smith and in-form Marnus Labuschagne (63) put up a partnership of 83.

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