Haddin on ice for early ODIs
Daniel Brettig
January 29, 2012
Brad Haddin, Australia's senior wicketkeeper and acting vice-captain, is set to be stood down from the first bracket of the triangular ODI series against India and Sri Lanka, affording the Victoria gloveman Matthew Wade another chance to press his case.
Wade will be behind the stumps in the two Twenty20 matches against India in Sydney and Melbourne this week, following Haddin's international T20 retirement, but he is now expected to also take the role for the first three limited-overs matches by being named in the ODI squad to be announced on Monday.
Haddin was due for a rest after playing across the home Test summer, though his questionable form was only just starting to trend back up in Adelaide following some difficult days against New Zealand and India.
He is understood to be enthusiastic about playing for New South Wales in a pair of fixtures against Tasmania in Hobart, the first a domestic one-day match on Saturday, with a Sheffield Shield game to follow Monday to Thursday. Those matches would give Haddin the chance to build on the starts he made with the bat in the final India Test.
Though there has been much speculation about his future this summer, Haddin remains a highly valued member of the Australian team, and a capable lieutenant for the captain Michael Clarke.
Haddin and Clarke have formed a strong leadership duo in the absence of Shane Watson, with the wicketkeeper providing plenty of advice in the field as well as offering a strong voice in the dressing room. His contribution to the team is being measured as much by those attributes as by his performances on the field, which lurched into dire territory earlier in the season before improving. He may remain Clarke's deputy for some matches to come given the doubts still swirling around Watson's fitness.
Pat Howard, the team performance manager, has said the selectors' criteria for choosing players include leadership and other additions to the team. The successful Tasmania captain George Bailey's selection as the national Twenty20 captain provided another example of their thinking.
"You need sufficient skills to be within the frame, obviously. No one is picked if they don't perform to be recognised for their core skills," Howard said. "But then the selection panel [also] considers their contribution to the team, the effect those players are having on the team - are they coming from winning teams? All those things are important to assess what impact those players are having. And obviously John [Inverarity] being able to sit down with the players to hear about who the good leaders are in other teams and getting feedback can add so much to your selection decisions.
"Ricky Ponting has spoken about the value people add outside their core skill. Be it their fielding, be it their character and the sort of leadership they produce, and how much they give to a side. To me, it is fantastic to see players supported [by each other]. You see David Warner score a hundred and the batsman at the other end [Ed Cowan] comes up and embraces him because he sees him as an important part of the team. Inverarity talks about adding to the pot more than you're taking out, and he looks for those characters that add to that team environment."
