Brad Haddin’s Ashes tour is over, with the wicketkeeper returning to Sydney for family reasons, Cricket Australia has confirmed.
The touring party arrived in Northampton on Tuesday, preparing for a first-class fixture that starts on Friday. But Haddin, 37, who was not expected to be recalled for next week’s fifth Test at The Kia Oval, had left London hours earlier.
A Cricket Australia spokesperson confirmed his departure, asking the media to respect the wicketkeeper and his family’s privacy. Haddin missed the second Test to spend time with his daughter in a London hospital.
Peter Nevill made an impressive Test debut at Lord’s in Haddin’s absence. And given Haddin’s indifferent form with the bat over the past year or so, the selectors opted to retain Nevill for the third and fourth Tests.
Darren Lehmann, the Australia coach, called it the toughest cricket decision he had had to make. Some former players, including Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne and Matthew Hayden, were highly critical of the decision.
Haddin remained with the 17-man squad for both games, having playing the tour match against Derbyshire last month, and the consummate team man continued to work closely with Nevill, the 29-year-old he has mentored since the two became club and state team-mates with New South Wales in 2008.
Haddin is yet to announce his retirement after 66 Tests, but his card has effectively been marked given Nevill’s promotion and age.
“We certainly care about Brad and his family,” Lehmann said after the third Test. “We’re really close as a group. We’ve talked about it openly. That would be the hardest decision I’ve had to make as a coach, or even as a player.
“We all love Hadds. The players love Hadds. He’s a ripper bloke - one of the best blokes I’ve ever coached, brilliant person, great family.”
It’s unclear whether Haddin will continue to play for NSW and the Sydney Sixers. He is expected to make a quick transition into coaching when he does retire, a move England coach Trevor Bayliss would support.
“He would make a good coach,” Bayliss said of former charge Haddin before the Ashes.
“He’s got the respect of the players. And just his rapport with the players - it doesn’t matter whether it’s the older players or the younger players, they all gravitate to Hadds.”
