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Gilchrist going finally gives Haddin his big chance

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Cricket odds expert Andrew Hughes tells us how Brad Haddin has a huge challenge to fill the void left by the Aussie's departing wickie...

If you're an Australian cricketer with aspirations of playing for your country, the most important quality you require is patience. And lots of it. Australia's total dominance on the cricket field means there are very few openings in the Test team and the next generation of hopefuls can grow old waiting for their chance. Just look at Stuart MacGill. By the time his apprenticeship ended, he was grey at the temples and past retirement age.

Now, at the age of thirty, a time when most international cricketers are reflecting on what there is left to achieve, Brad Haddin is about to embark on his Test career. When the current Commonwealth Bank Trophy ends (and we are assured that it will end at some point) he will ascend to the position of Australia's number one wicket-keeper.

The short, stocky Ian Healy lookalike from rural New South Wales will have to pack a lot of cricket into the next few years. But it is one of the remarkable and admirable features of the Australian game that so many players are prepared to wait so long for their crack at the baggy green and when they finally get their chance, they are desperate to succeed.

Haddin's own apprenticeship began back in 2001 when he made his international debut in a fifty over match against Zimbabwe at the age of twenty-four. Four years ago, he was added to the National Contract List and officially became Gilchrist's heir apparent. He has worked hard throughout those four years to retain that position, fighting off spirited competition from the likes of Luke Ronchi of Western Australia and Matthew Wade of Victoria and improving his wicketkeeping considerably.

But his strongest asset is his destructive batting. Stronger on the on-side than Gilchrist, he is a touch more agricultural, particularly in his fondness for the down-on- one-knee hoik to cow corner, but he drives cleanly with coruscating power. He shares too Gilchrist's delight in the simple pleasures of a ball launched high into the crowd.

Averaging over fifty in each of the last three domestic seasons, his batting is effective enough to enable him to bat at six for his state in Pura Cup games and at four in shorter formats and some of his international appearances have been as a specialist batsman. He will almost certainly bat at seven in Tests and may in time also assume Gilchrist's opening position in the shorter formats.

Like most Aussies, he won't back down from a confrontation (witness his verbal jousting with Sreesanth last autumn) but is generally regarded as a level head and a good sounding board for his state captain Simon Katich, for whom he has filled in on occasion. And in recent days, he has earned respect for his down-to-earth attitude in refusing the chance to play in the IPL in order to concentrate on his international career. He has also been at pains to downplay expectations and forestall any comparisons with his illustrious predecessor.

But this is something of a forlorn hope. It is inevitable that he will suffer comparison with Gilchrist, just as Wayne Philips, Steve Rixon, Tim Zoehrer and Greg Dyer were all measured against Rodney Marsh. Haddin is a better player than all of them, but then Gilchrist was also better than Marsh so the boots he has to fill are that much bigger. If he does fail to cement his place in the Australian team it will not be for lack of talent or application, but rather because he had the misfortune to follow one of the greatest cricketers the game has ever seen.

• Cricket
• Australia Cricket