London, July 25: With the Lord’s Test displaying how hard it can be for wicketkeepers to acclimatise to the idiosyncratic English conditions, stand-in Australia captain Michael Hussey has praised the men behind the stumps and said its never been an easy business with the bouncing ball moving all around in the grounds here.
”It’s tough over here, wicketkeeping, because after the ball bounces it can move around quite a lot. I have always had a lot of admiration for the keepers I’ve played with in county cricket because they’ve been able to cope with that very well,” Hussey said. ”I am sure Brad will get better and better at it. It’s certainly not easy, and I’m glad I’m not standing behind the stumps,” he quipped.
Haddin has skipped the tour game before the Edgbaston Tests at Northampton despite needing further exposure to the tricky English conditions.
The Australian stumper has sparkled with the bat in the opening two Tests, with a brilliant 121 in Cardiff and 80 in support of Michael Clarke at Lord’s. Haddin had said he tensed up on the biggest occasion of his career and struggled to get his feet moving. He ended up conceding 31 byes for the match, but also chipped in a brilliant catch off the inside edge of Kevin Pietersen’s bat in the second innings.
Haddin’s England counterpart Matt Prior has sympathise with the wicketkeepers new to the conditions.
”It’s unfortunate for a keeper. To the naked eye, sometimes you can’t see what’s going on out there, but the ball here, for some reason, wobbles around a huge amount,” Prior said. ”I don’t know why. There are so many theories out there, but it moves and swings late, and if you are not used to it, it can be hard work,” he added.
Coach Tim Nielsen, who had a long stint as a wicketkeeper with South Australia, backed Haddin to recover from his early fumbles.
”I thought he did a very nice job in Cardiff, the last day when it was spinning and bouncing. He had a pretty ordinary spot, as he would admit, in the first innings here when the ball was curving after it bounced, and he got pretty tight.
”He got anxious and was worried about what people were thinking, I’m sure, and clanged a couple. The great thing was he kept fighting hard and he didn’t miss anything that counted,” Nielsen said.
—-Agencies