- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Despite a recent run of batting performances that would embarrass Chris Martin, and a shoulder that looks like the northern lights, I want to see Brad Haddin survive the summer.
The likely alternative, several years of Matthew Wade and his iron gloves, is too terrifying to consider.
Haddin is a bit like the family dog whose arthritis has stopped him from chasing the ball for the past few years – he mostly does what he’s told, and hasn’t started crapping on the lounge room carpet yet. Well, not regularly enough to cause concern, anyway.
In Haddin’s favour here is the selectors’ ongoing preference for conservative decision-making. Like an office worker choosing which blue shirt to wear on a Tuesday, our boys in the national selection panel like routine and safe choices.
That said, if they do choose to bite the bullet, Wade seems the likely choice. Why try something new when you can just go with the last wicketkeeper to play Tests for Australia, after all?
As outlined in my recent article promoting Nine’s rumoured new reality TV series, Rod Marsh and the boys have a number of great choices not named Matthew Wade to take over from Haddin.
That said, our wicketkeeping situation is more Adam Gilchrist than Ian Healy. Haddin is fading, but there is currently no standout ‘keeper forcing the selectors’ hand.
Instead of rushing a decision which may affect the fortunes of our Test side for the next decade, let’s instead give Haddin the retirement tour Ian Healy never had, before consigning him to a future stuck in a commentary box with Brad McNamara, James Brayshaw and endless hours spent awkwardly promoting upcoming shows.
After returning to the side following an absence to be with his young daughter while she battled cancer, Haddin unsurprisingly displayed a broader perspective on life and a new approach to his cricket. For the last few years, this has resulted in a more consistent run of performances both behind the stumps and with the bat, culminating in last summer’s Ashes blitzkrieg.
Dwindling returns in more recent Tests shouldn’t prevent Haddin from one last season chuntering away in the middle, and hopefully sticking it to the touring Indian side.
With the World Cup to follow, I hope our national selectors choose the right blue shirt, and give the occasionally incontinent pitbull affectionately known as ‘Hadds’ one last hurrah this summer.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.