Is Brad Haddin the real deal?

He spent quite a few years at ANU CC as well. I remember him smacking the crap out of everyone’s bowling at training. He hit a few blokes from the nets at South oval up to the other end of the field, prob around 120 metres!!!

He was there for about 4-5 years and then I think he moved up to Sydney to be in the NSW Shield Squad.

T

Haddin is far and away the best wicket keeper-batsman in the country and he will, barring injury, have at least half a dozen years unchallenged behind the stumps for his country. But he isn’t a particularly talented gloveman – on a par maybe with Gilchrist but not as good as Healy, or indeed the man he’s been up against in this series, Mark Boucher.

na haddin was pretty cool, we were a year below them so we all got along well

i rekkun he’s the biscuit. while gilly was, as others pointed out, unimpeachably stellar and we can’t hope for an equal, haddin is as good as healy ever was and likely to become a better batsman if he keeps improving the way he has been. he looks a bit like healy, btw…

what was he like in school, f? a teacher’s pet?

I thought Mark Webber was the No. 1 ticket holder – another Q boy.

haddin went to karabar high school class of ’95, was known as “mullo” back then in school. we always used to give him shot sayin “why you always playing cricket for during recess & lunch” and now look at him!!!!! jokes on us i guess

He is a Queanbeyan boy. Remember during the first few tests of Rodney Marsh he was known as iron gloves.

Isn’t Brad more strongly associated with Q-Town during his youth? Or is this another case of Canberra stealing what small talent emanates from our neighbouring utopia.

After a few tests people didn’t rate Gilchrist’s glovework either. That said, Haddin has made some unfortunate blunders.

His batting has improved a lot in short time, which is pleasing.

As Thumper said, though, Gilchrist was exceptional and we can’t expect anyone to fill his shoes. Likewise Warne and McGrath.

We’ve had it good for a very long time. We might just have to suck it up for a few years now and hope Ponting can set a stack of new records. Might have to bump off Tendulkar first though.

His Glovework isn’t as good as Gilchrist, and you could argue his batting isn’t either. We have to remember that Gilly was an outstanding keeper, vice captain and batter. That is hard to replace. Haddin is the best man for the job though and except for the occasional fumble, he has been solid. His batting, especially in the first test, was fantastic. I reckon he even looks like younger version of Ian Healey.