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Australia were narrowly defeated in the first Ashes Test, with the reinstated Brad Haddin (35) the almost-hero with a gusty innings.
Last week I wrote about what I thought the future held for our top order batting line-up, today I would like to focus on what could be a contentious upcoming wicketkeeper selection.
For sake of this discussion, this is also the number seven batting spot.
Currently Brad Haddin (35) has wrestled the gloves from Matthew Wade (25). While I guess the reasoning behind Haddin’s reinstatement is mainly to partly fill a leadership void left by Michael Hussey and Rick Ponting, it is also viable the selectors were choosing the better gloveman of the two.
He has displayed his fighting qualities once more against the old foe, and on the back of that will be hard to dislodge as the national keeper this series.
Unfortunately I have not seen much of a few of the state keepers to evaluate their keeping skill, but I will do my best and happily welcome opinions.
I am a firm believer that the wicketkeeper is an integral part of setting the standard for the fielding side, and in turn think that quality glovework of the keeper is crucial at Test level.
Matthew Wade (25) – heir apparent but needs to improve glovework / footwork dramatically. If stats were taken for missed chances I would imagine Wade has already passed Ian Healy in the error department.
Healy was been critical of Wade over the last Australian summer – “some of the basic stuff that he’s not tidying up, he’s not getting to the stumps, he’s not taking returns well, he’s not sharpening up the fielding effort.”
This criticism preceded the two getting together for a one-on-one ‘clinic’, however improvement was it as hard to judge whether he improved during the Indian Test series.
If Haddin lasts to the end of the home Ashes series, it gives Wade the entire domestic season to work hard at his keeping attributes as well as consistency with the bat. His batting is simply not strong enough to warrant selection as a specialist at number six.
Peer Nevill (27) – with strong batting credentials, he will be given plenty of opportunity at domestic level in the wake of Haddin’s Test elevation, and strong returns in the runs column will see him pressure Wade for the backup spot.
Tim Paine (28) – a gifted gloveman, but five finger operations and almost two domestic seasons out of the game has seen him fall behind Wade in the pecking order. His batting is probably not up to Test level with his solitary first-class century versus Wade’s six weighing heavily against him. It remains to be seen if he will be given another opportunity.
Chris Hartley (31) – as a parochial Queenslander, it would be remiss of me to omit the gritty Bulls ‘keeper from this discussion. Consistent domestic seasons with the bat tethered to his Ian Healy-given tag of ‘best keeper in Australia’ has failed to deliver opportunities, and by the time of Haddin’s retirement, the ship may well and truly have sailed.
Others – Tim Ludeman (SA, 26), Tom Triffitt (WA, 22), Ben McDermott (Aus 19s, 18), Ben Dunk (TAS, 26), Jake Doolan (Aus 19s, 16). I haven’t seen much or any of these players, but performances provided by the increased domestic cricket workload may see some of them given more opportunities in the spotlight and maybe, just maybe, our next Australian keeper could be in that mix somewhere…
My personal selection post Haddin is Peter Nevill by a nose over Matthew Wade. The domestic summer could sway me either way, but the NSW keeper is ticking the glovework box better than Wade for me.
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