Clarke has become the first test cricketer in Test history to score a triple century at the SCG and he could have scored many more if not for a selfless act of declaration to enable Australia every chance to bowl out India in the second innings. And with 2 days to go and only eight wickets left the win should not be a problem.
The day should have finished on a better note with what will be the main talking point of this article and because of Clarke's heroics may well be forgotten and forgiven by the selectors. That issue of course is the keeping ability of Haddin. With no chance to show his batting ability it is his glovework that is on show and he was consistent yet again in showing his poor glovework. Quite sad really when this is the what he should be selected on. The dropped catch by Haddin, of Gambir, is a catch that should be swallowed by a keeper at any level and shows why Haddin is out of form. Every game now seems to feature a dropped catch by this keeper who has an amazing ability to completely miss the ball with his gloves. With Australia starting to rebuild and showing great promise in it's bowling strength and a batting lineup on notice why is the keeper immune to the sack.
If this dropped catch goes on to hurt Australia and India manage to bat out a draw then surely Haddin's head must pay the price. Even if Australia win, Haddin must be dropped and he must be told it is due to his poor keeping ability. A team cannot afford to drop catches of such easy standards, therefore a team cannot afford to carry a player that seems to drop a catch every game. Fortunately for Haddin though the media will focus on Clarke's batting effort and make little mention of his dropped catch. Not me though, I have been calling for it for awhile now and I will keep calling for it until it happens.
Fairly harsh article but you do pose a good point. You must remember a number of other players in the Australian line up have been carried for longer than Haddin. I’d be interested to hear the opinion of others…
ReplyDeleteYes I am harsh but I call it how I see it. I do appreciate you writing comments though and feel free to add your thoughts on the lineup.
ReplyDeleteI am waiting for the test match to finish before writing a more detailed analysis of the game. And once the series is over I will be giving an overall rating of the Test team for the summer.