Haadin announced his retirement from international cricket earlier todayAustralia’s Brad Haddin announced his retirement from Test and first-class cricket earlier today, thus bringing down curtains on a fulfilling international career. Having spent the early part of his career under the shadows of Adam Gilchrist, arguably the greatest wicketkeeper-batsman to have played the game, Haddin seized his opportunity once Gilchrist retired to establish himself as Australia’s first choice for more than 7 years. The above is best exemplified by the fact that Haddin made his Test debut only in 2008, seven years after his ODI debut. In all, the 37-year-old played 66 Tests, 126 ODIs and 34 T20s for Australia. He has accounted for 270 dismissals in Test cricket, the sixth most by any wicketkeeper and the fourth most by an Australian after Gilchrist, Ian Healy and Rodney Marsh. His dismissals/innings ratio of 2.109 is only slightly behind Gilchrist (2.178), the only player ahead of Haddin in this stat (more than 100 dismissals).Haddin’s ODI dismissals count stands at 181, the third most for an Australian after Gilchrist and Healy. The dismissals/innings ratio of 1.573 is behind, yet again, behind only Gilchrist (1.679) among wicketkeepers with more than 100 dismissals to their name.Haddin might not match Gilly’s batting exploits, but the New South Wales player was more than a match to his more illustrious compatriot in terms of glove work. He has taken some brilliant catches in his career and here is a look at 5 of Haddin’s best catches.
#1 India\'s tour of Australia, 2013-14, 3rd Test
Australia headed into the Boxing Day Test match against India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground having won the first two matches. The visitors had given the Australians a run for their money in both the matches and looked solid, especially in the batting department.
Cheteshwar Pujara had gotten starts in each of his four outings prior to this match and the first innings at the MCG was no different. Pujara had developed a 53-run partnership for the 2nd wicket with Murali Vijay as India looked to get close to Australia’s daunting total of 530.
Pujara’s stay at the crease came to an end at 25 however as Haddin dived full-stretch to his right taking a blinder off the air just ahead of Shane Watson who was fielding at first slip after Pujara had edged the delivery off Ryan Harris. Making the effort even more special was the fact that this was Haddin’s 250th Test dismissal.
#2 Australia\'s tour of New Zealand, 2010, 2nd ODI /1st T20
Brendon McCullum is one of the world’s most destructive batsmen in any format and he is also one of the agilest fielders out there. The current Kiwi skipper was served a taste of his own medicine as Haddin produced one of his trademark stunning catches.
New Zealand won the first match narrowly and set a target of 274 at Auckland, would have fancied their chances, especially after the manner in which McCullum started off. He was batting on 24 off just 15 balls, a knock which included 3 boundaries and 2 sixes. He tried to take the attack to Mitchell Johnson as well but Haddin put end to that as he took another one handed stunner yet again in front of slip. And the fielder at slip? Who else but Shane Watson.
That wicket proved to be a decisive one as New Zealand went on to lose the match by 12 runs and Haddin acknowledged the importance of his catch.
"Brendon's been in pretty hot form and you need to take those half-chances with guys like Brendon, especially on the short boundaries over here, they can take the game away from you in the blink of an eye," Haddin said, as reported by Fox Sports.
Haddin took a similar catch on the same tour, with Watson and McCullum replaying their roles while the only change was the bowler with Shaun Tait instead of Johnson. The Kiwi edged it and Haddin flew to his right to take a blinder.
#3 Pakistan\'s tour of Australia, 2009/10, 2nd Test
The 2nd Test between Australia and Pakistan was a strange one to stay the least. Australia looked down and out as they were dismissed for 127 in their first innings and Pakistan replied with a score of 333, thus getting a huge first innings lead of 206 runs.
The hosts fared much better in the 2nd innings scoring 381 but the target of 175 still looked attainable for Pakistan. They started solidly as well with the opening partnership of Salman Butt and Imran Farhat scoring 34 in just 6.6 overs. Farhat’s dismissal however gave the Aussies the confidence to rip through the Pakistani batting line up.
Mitchell Johnson was in full swing having accounted for Faisal Iqbal in the 11th over of the innings and went on to add the scalp of Butt as well in the same over. But he had Haddin to thank for it more than anyone else.
Butt attempted to flick Johnson’s full delivery at the leg stump but he could only get a faint touch at it. Haddin anticipated the ball movement and had made his move early on diving to the left and plucked the ball out of thin air with his left hand.
Australia went on to win the match by 36 runs.
#4 2015 ICC World Cup final, Australia vs New Zealand
Brad Haddin had announced beforehand that he would be retiring from the ODI format at the end of Australia’s 2015 ICC World Cup campaign. With his side reaching the final of the tournament, Haddin and Michael Clarke (who announced before the final that this game would be his last as well) had a chance to end their careers on a high. In the end, both had their wish and played a major role in the final as well.
While Clarke went on to top score in the match with 74, it was Haddin’s breathtaking catch of Ross Taylor that played a crucial part in restricting New Zealand’s total to 183. Ross Taylor and Martin Guptill had put on a 111 run partnership for the 4th wicket after their side were struggling at 39/3. They reached the 150-run mark in 35 overs and was all set to step up the attack with the introduction of the powerplay overs.
James Faulkner was handed the responsibility of bowling the 36th over and he produced the goods right away dismissing Taylor of the very first ball, with major help from Haddin. Taylor tried to get Faulkner’s full delivery outside the off-stump away but could only edge it to Haddin who flew low to his right to collect the catch cleanly just before it hit the ground.
That proved a game changer as Corey Anderson also fell two balls later and New Zealand ended up losing their remaining five wickets with the addition of just 33 runs.
#5 2013-14 Ashes series, 3rd Test at Perth
Speaking at the press conference called at the SCG to announce his retirement earlier today, Haddin revelaed how the Ashes will remain his career highlight. So no wonder Haddin chose his catch to dismiss Joe Root during the 2nd innings of the 3rd Test of the 2013-14 Ashes series as his favourite catch.
Australia were well on top having won the first two Test matches in a convincing manner. The 3rd Test was nnot much different as England were struggling to save the match having been set an improbable target of 503 by the home team. Root was trying his best to stick around and spent more than two hours at the crease for his score of 19.
The usual combo of Watson-Johnson-Haddin worked in tandem yet again as Root’s innings was brought to a close by Haddin’s spectacular catch. root tried to dug out Johnson’s full delivery but it caught the outside edge of the bat and Haddin jumped fully low and to the right taking the catch right from the clutches of Watson fielding at first slip.
Brand-new app in a brand-new avatar! Download CricRocket for fast cricket scores, rocket flicks, super notifications and much more! 🚀☄️
