Haddin's axing leaves sour taste

brad haddin

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The decision to select Peter Nevill ahead of Haddin has been heavily criticised following Australia’s poor performance on day one of the third Ashes Test at Edgbaston. 

However, chairman of selectors Rod Marsh has argued that Australia had “no option” but to leave the 37-year-old out of the side. 

Haddin missed the second Test against the English due to family reasons, handing Peter Nevill a baggy green. 

Subsequently, names such as Ponting, Hayden, Healy and Warne have criticised the culture of the current team, stating that they didn’t believe a player who had omitted themselves on personal grounds should be left out of a side in the following match. 

Marsh was staunch in his reasoning for the non-selection of Haddin. 

“We've made the call to stick with the same XI that played at Lord's," Marsh said according to ESPNCricinfo.

"Obviously we had to wait on Chris Rogers (fitness test) but we decided that Nevill had such a good game at Lord's, the team played that well, won by 405 runs, it was very hard to change a winning side."

Haddin’s performance in the last Ashes series in Australia was nothing short of brilliant, but has struggled in the longer form of the game since then. 

“He's a fantastic player with a fantastic attitude, but he's averaging 15 in his last 12 Test matches, we needed runs down there," Marsh said.

"He didn't keep well and he'll admit that at Cardiff and the new boy did very, very well at Lord's, so in my way of thinking, we didn't have an option.

"It was an amazingly hard call, but… the selection panel believe that was the best thing for the team, for the country.”

Those views were not shared by Australian legend Matthew Hayden on Wednesday (AEST).

“It doesn't say much for the family-first policy if Brad puts his family first and all of a sudden he's out. Sometimes the heart has to play a part in selection,” Hayden wrote in his column for News Corp

The former opener’s sentiments were echoed by former national captain Ricky Ponting, who suggested that the decision to axe Haddin from the side was disappointing. 

“All reports suggest he would have played at Lord's but he made the only and right decision to be with his daughter Mia who was very ill in hospital and missed that match,” Ponting wrote in The Australian.  

“I know it would have been a hard call for him, he has been a single-minded and determined servant of Australian cricket, but he rightfully put his family first and has paid the price for it.”

Rumours have also emerged from inside the camp that some players are unhappy with the treatment of Haddin. 

Chris Rogers did little to dispel those rumours during his press conference after the first day of play, with some suggesting that Haddin’s case may have required some special treatment given its extraordinary circumstances. 

When asked if players were unhappy about the non-selection of Haddin, Rogers replied: “I don't really want to talk about that. That's something for the selection panel. Maybe at the end of the series I can think about that."

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