Team bites tongue on Haddin decision

Australia's players made a point of training vocally and boisterously at Trent Bridge on Monday. The fielding-oriented session was characterised by plenty of laughter and competitive drills, as banter between team-mates filled the air that on Thursday will reverberate with the noise of an English crowd expecting its team to seal the Ashes series.

Brad Haddin was as involved and vocal as anyone at training, and there was a sense that after a heavy loss in Birmingham, and the conjecture surrounding his demotion behind Peter Nevill, the team wished to give the appearance of unity. There can be little doubt that the players are united, and remain confident of their Ashes chances despite the weight of history against them.

But there is a difference between players demonstrating harmony and none raising questions about a decision made by their coach Darren Lehmann and selection chairman Rod Marsh. This is a group mature enough to appreciate that personal opinions on Haddin's fate cannot be allowed to derail the tour, yet there is undoubted angst about the sequence in which events took place.

For that reason, Lehmann was well within his rights to state, as he did in an interview with the Adelaide radio station 5AA, that talk the team was divided over the Haddin decision was "rubbish" and "crap". But careful questioning of whether everyone agreed with the way the matter was resolved will doubtless result in different answers, as it has been through the words of Chris Rogers and Mitchell Johnson.

Rogers conveyed a sense of unease with his terse non-answer in response to a question about the Haddin decision during the Edgbaston Test, and Johnson added his perspective to it with similarly careful steps that nonetheless indicated there is more under the surface.

"It's a difficult one and it's a hard one to really answer," Johnson said. "Yeah look, he's a senior player of the team and it's good to have those senior players around in an Ashes tour. He hasn't gone home or anything like that, so it's good to have him around the team still and being himself. To lose someone like Hadds and I guess in the situation it was, it's very difficult for everyone. More so for him. I'll probably just leave it at that."

In an exercise where all players took aim at a single stump in the middle of the field, Nevill enjoyed plenty of direct hits, in keeping with his strong displays in the two Tests for which he has so far replaced Haddin. There is no ill will among players towards Nevill, who in his very modesty and grace has endeared himself to team-mates used to the occasional moment's grandstanding by one another.

Nonetheless, it is a rather different thing to walk onto a Test ground with Nevill than it was to be accompanied by Haddin, who personified the brio and boldness of Australian cricket at its best even when his own batting form had started to trail off. His battles to regain his place in the team and then keep it, while spending time at the side of his ill daughter Mia, only added to the team's admiration.

For his part, Haddin is at peace with the decision, and committed to ensuring Australia have the best chance of keeping possession of the urn over the next two Tests. He has not spoken publicly about it, and will be at long odds to do so until at least the outcome of the series is decided. Even then, he is more likely to keep his counsel than speak out. He is the gloveman as team-builder, even when held in reserve.

"The keeper is someone who drives the chatter and the vibe out in the middle, the energy out there," Johnson said. "That's what I've always found in a keeper, playing Shield cricket or even club cricket - back that far. The keeper is generally the chirpiest. He gives the energy to the team.

"Nev has done a great job for us and he is just finding himself. It just happens to be on an Ashes tour. I guess in a difficult circumstance with how it all happened. But he's making the most of it and everyone is supporting him 100% and backing him all the way."

Supporting one another is something the Australians were doing as they trained at Trent Bridge. That is not to say they simply exchanged empty homilies. Plenty of rowdy and amusing words were exchanged, the rat-a-tat-tat of call and response giving the impression of 17 scallywags on a summer jaunt rather than a squad of cricketers confronting arguably the most important three weeks of their careers. Johnson summed up the mood.

"There's been times in my career when I've felt that sort of, I guess that pressure a lot more and the guys haven't been as happy at times," he said. "But this group have been outstanding. We've had a couple of losses along the way in the last 12-18 months, but we've played good cricket.

"Everyone's really happy and get along really well. All the guys want to learn, they want to get better. Have a look at the way we train, we always train really well and always look to better ourselves. Even after a loss like that, the guys are still upbeat."

This Ashes series is bigger than Brad Haddin, and Australia's team success is bigger than individual selection issues. It follows naturally that the matter of his demotion is a question that is being put to one side for now by a team still eager to win. But it has not been forgotten, either.