Image courtesy of: Zimbio
“It’s the first Test of the summer, it’s always big”
Australia vice-captain and wicketkeeper Brad Haddin has announced that he is looking forward to the second round of the Ashes against arch-rivals England, which gets underway on November 21 in Brisbane.
“No matter who you’re playing, it’s an exciting time [before] the first Test match of any summer,” he said. “Here at the Gabba or anywhere it’s an exciting time and to add the spice, it’s an Ashes campaign. It doesn’t get any better. It’s going to be great fun.”
Despite admitting that England deserved their 3-0 win in the last Ashes series, Haddin is confident Australia has what it takes to turn their fortunes around.
“I think England deserve to have the 3-0 tag, they obviously played the better cricket and won the big moments,” he said. “(But) I think we’ve shown through that time at the back end of the series that we were playing a brand of cricket that we think can get the results in Test cricket.
“So from that point of view we’ve gone away and looked at a few areas that we need to improve on to turn that 3-0 scoreline around.
“The expectations are always high when you start a Test campaign and I think the hype that gets built up outside is always good theatre. For us it’s cricket as normal, it’s an exciting time because it is the Ashes and it’s the first Test of the summer. Once the first 10 minutes of the game goes and you take the emotion out of it and start to play cricket it’s always good fun.”
Haddin also noted that Australia have moved on from their 3-0 thrashing and are looking forward to regaining the Ashes in front of their home crowd.
“I don’t think you can spoil an Ashes series, it’s too exciting,” Haddin added. “It’s great cricket to play and no matter where you place it in world cricket it’s always a contest. It’s a great competition, it’s great for Test cricket, it’s great for Australians and it’s great for the English. It’s great for anyone involved in the game – it’s a good series.”
When asked if Australia can keep their 25-year unbeaten streak at the Gabba alive, Haddin said: “I don’t think it matters where it is. We all like the Gabba because we all like to see the ball flying past everyone’s ears – that makes exciting viewing for the spectators,” he said. “It was a good contest here. Last time England held off for a draw but that’s all a long time ago and a lot has changed since then. There is different personnel around for both teams, it’s a new season – who knows what will happen?
“It’s the first Test of the summer, it’s always big. But it happens to be the first Test of an Ashes campaign, so let’s cut the talk and get on with it.”