Haddin or Nevill

[Swingpanzee]

Agree with this

Healy, Hayden are off with the fairies and somehow think that a spot is owned by players

Agree, in fact i'd go one step further and say maybe Voges should have been dropped for Marsh. Yeah it's in hindsight I know but he's just been a disappointment.

 

[SteveNZ]

I thought Brad was cool with sentimentality and the nice guy approach being taken out of cricket? Shouldn't surprise him too much.

 

[adub]

I thought Brad was cool with sentimentality and the nice guy approach being taken out of cricket? Shouldn't surprise him too much.

I don't think it has.

It's ironic that all the guys complaining about it publicly were given a fair bit of leniency from the selectors once their performances had dropped off at the end of their careers.

 

[SteveNZ]

Yeah, and both those guys played 100+ Tests, were at the top of their tree in their chosen discipline and in sides that could afford to carry them to a point. Haddin hasn't done enough to expect the same courtesy. And I wouldn't be the only one who's quite pleased he hasn't received it.

 

[Furball]

Hayden was bulleted pretty quickly wasn't he?

I know he officially retired but I thought the consensus was that Hughes was the man for the South Africa tour and Hayden opted to announce his retirement.

 

[adub]

It's true he had a huge summer against India the previous year, and the Ashes the year before was fine with a >50 average, but they were the only two of his last 8 series where he averaged over 40 and his last three series (9 tests) averaging just 24. So I suppose it might be a bit rough to say he got a super extended run of leniency, but the huge India series was pretty much against the tide.

 

[Spark]

It wasn't just that he wasn't getting runs though, he genuinely looked past it in that summer.

 

[Top_Cat]

Yep. Stats are often used as post-hoc justification in dropping someone. What you're really looking for are physical signs they're on the slide. Hulking Hayden, never terribly light on his feet, looked slow.

 

[Uppercut]

IIRC he tore up the IPL later that year, for whatever that's worth. The fitness and concentration might have started to go but not the hand-eye co-ordination (which Clarke really looks like he's lost).

Hughes's immense performances forced the selectors' hand then anyway but Hayden might have ended up being useful in the '09 Ashes if they'd found a way to drop him without him retiring. But then he was never great in England anyway, and Watson did OK.

 

[adub]

It wasn't just that he wasn't getting runs though, he genuinely looked past it in that summer.

Yeah, absolutely agree. It wasn't until I went back to the records that I remembered that Indian summer. Without that my recollection was that he looked like a man who was shot for a fair while which is why I made the statement that he got lenient treatment at the end which his record possibly doesn't back up. The Indian seamers that year Zaheer (1 test), Ishant (2 Tests) and RP Singh (3 Tests) and flat tracks obviously suited Haydos down to the ground. Next summer Ntini, Steyn, Morkel, Southee and Martin just took it in turns to pick him off.

 

[Jono]

They've still got Warner if they're desperate for an absolute **** to be picked in the team.