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Since being dumped from the Australia XI in favour of Matthew Wade as the no.1 keeper-batsman, Brad Haddin has been in red-hot form in the Sheffield Shield for NSW.
Earlier in the season in September, Haddin scored 114 against Tasmania, two weeks ago he scored 108* against Victoria and yesterday he fell short of a third ton in three shield games, out for 73 against Queensland.
The chairman of selectors John Inverarity has stated that Haddin is still a chance of making his way back in the side if current keeper Wade is injured at any stage. Although he didn’t say if Wade is in poor form but if Haddin continues his brilliant resurrection, he, like Johnson, could find himself back in the Australian squad as soon as next month against Sri Lanka.
Matthew Wade so far in this series has struggled with both bat and gloves. Alongside the crucial missed stumping of Graeme Smith in the first innings of the second Test he was responsible for a costly lack of judgement when he came up to the stumps to Hilfenhaus when Du Plessis was bowling, only to drop him almost immediately.
On top of that, he has only scored 43 runs this series at a strike rate of just over 38. He has also only made a score of more than 30 once in his last 10 innings.
Wade is still young and fairly inexperienced when it comes to big key moments in matches and surely the two mistakes he made in Adelaide will be a lesson to him. But he must not dwell on them. All great keepers, including Adam Gilchrist, have made mistakes.
But with Haddin getting himself back into form with the bat and starting to move well with the gloves like he did in 2009 and 2010, Wade has to start performing to keep him spot safe in the Australia side.
Australia are looking to take the best possible team they can offer to the Ashes next year. From now until the July next year, Wade has the third Test against South Africa, three Test series against Sri Lanka, 10 ODIs, two T20’s and a Test series in India to permanently lock in his spot.
If he is under performing in that period, Haddin will have until the end of the Shield season to continue his red-hot form and possibly be selected for the Ashes not just in England, but in Australia next summer as well.
At 35, Haddin is as hard-working, fit and passionate as the other two veterans in the side, Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey. His career from his point of view, the selectors point of view and other teammates point of view, is far from over.
Although most of the talk so far this series has been about Ricky Ponting and Mitchell Johnson, the selectors will be keen to see how the two keepers go for the remainder of the series.
It will also not be unreasonable to consider Haddin for the Ashes next year as he has experience of 43 Test matches, which includes the 2009 Ashes series. In that series, he scored 276 runs including a century and an 80 in four Tests.
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