The cricketing careers of Matthew Wade and Tim Paine have been entwined since they were kids engaging in cricketing scraps in their backyards, in the suburb of Lauderdale, near Hobart in Tasmania.

Tim Paine Age: 34

Age: 34 Nickname: Kid

Nickname: Kid Test debut: Australia v Pakistan at Lord's, 2010 Matthew Wade Age: 31

Age: 31 Nickname: Wadey

Nickname: Wadey Test debut: West Indies v Australia at Bridgetown, 2012

Wade was the son of Scott — the nuggety former Hawthorn on-baller who was as fierce as he was competitive — and it showed.

Paine was the junior phenomenon who oozed swagger and class. For him, a baggy green was written in the stars.

Having Tim Paine grow up over the back fence would be a blessing, and a curse, for Wade.

On the one hand, in Paine he had access to the most elite of cricketing sparring partners, a crazily gifted keeper-batsman who would sign a Tasmanian Tigers rookie contract at just 16 years old.

On the other, Wade — also a burgeoning wicketkeeper — would forever be cast into the shadow of his ultra-talented neighbour.

Wade was good. Really good. But Paine was always better.

Tim Paine took over the Test captaincy in the wake of the ball tampering scandal. ( AAP: Dave Hunt )

Importantly though, and probably unknowingly, it was Paine who taught Wade how to lose and that to be the best, he had to beat the best.

Those backyard battles provided the cauldron in which Wade would brew his now trademark brand of grit and resilience.

It was that grit that would help guide him through a bout of testicular cancer at the age of 16, a battle that required two rounds of chemotherapy to overcome.

It would allow him to swallow his pride and pack his bags for Victoria, after Tasmanian selectors decided out of the two, they would pick Paine.

It would steel him to parlay his move across Bass Strait into a state captaincy, and see him evolve into a test cricketer.

Matthew Wade has expressed frustration with being passed over for Test selection in the past. ( AAP: Richard Wainwright )

Life on the international stage wouldn't last long though for Wade, at least not at Test level.

Middling performances would see him dropped from the test team in 2017, and it was there where most thought his long-form career would end.

But a return to Tasmania and the birth of his first daughter began to stir the forces that had propelled Wade to the top.

A new found determination would see him quietly go about honing his craft under batting coach Jeff Vaughan, never asking for a leg up, but always prepared to do the work — and work he would.

Both Paine and Wade have kept wicket for Australia. ( AP: Trevor Collens )

As Wade watched his boyhood mate Paine be parachuted into the test captaincy off the back of the ball-tampering scandal, he began to plunder runs in the Sheffield Shield.

As his batting form improved, the fortunes of the national team dipped.

Suddenly, the planets were aligning for a recall for Wade, who was making light work of opposition attacks at first class level, almost always on volatile Bellerive green tops.

Wade was making runs, but selectors couldn't bear to go back to the Wade well. He'd had his time, they would say.

But you don't tell Matthew Wade no.

Australian coach Justin Langer has given hints about the makeup of his first Ashes XI team. ( AAP: Dan Himbrechts )

On Friday, following a string of performances simply too good to ignore, he was selected in the Ashes squad to tour England.

It is almost certain he'll bat at number 6 in the first test. Tim Paine will bat at 7. Right next door.

If Paine's comeback story is the Hollywood blockbuster, Wade's is the gritty award-winning indie flick.

Whatever happens in Edgbaston, their selection in the team together will begin another chapter in a tale that's been 20 years, two states, a mountain of runs and one backyard in the making.