Australia succumbed to their second Ashes defeat to England on Sunday at the Oval. England’s stunning display was credit to Andrew Flintoff’s leadership and Stuart Broad’s genius with the ball.
Following the defeat, Ricky Ponting has now become the first Australian skipper since Billy Murdoch to have suffered two defeats in a row in England. This has also led to speculations of his ever returning to the land for yet another campaign in 2013.
Ponting said, “We’ll see how I’m going in four years. Hopefully I’ll have another chance to play another Ashes series back in Australia, but it would be nice, with everything I’ve done in my career and the games I’ve played, to have some good memories from this ground. I might have to come back next time and find some.”
As though the defeat wasn’t hurting enough, the Australians have received another bad news on the morning following their Ashes defeat, which was concerning Brad Haddin’s injury with a broken finger. Haddin is now surely to miss the ODI and Twenty20 series in England looking ahead to get his finger healed in time for the Champions Trophy. This means Australia will be without their star keeper for yet another campaign. However, team management hasn’t ruled out his possibility of returning to the UK after the tour commences.
Haddin fractured to his left ring finger just moments into the match at Edgbaston. Although he missed that match, he featured for the final two Tests at Headingley and the Oval after having injected with pain-killers. The extent of the injury was announced following the further scans on Monday morning, after Australia’s defeat and will now return back home to allow his finger to heal.
According to Australia’s physiotherapist Alex Kountouris, “It has now been decided Brad will return to Australia to allow him further recovery time and consultation with specialists to determine the best possible management of the injury. His participation in any of the one-day and Twenty20 components of Australia’s VB Tour of England and the ICC Champions Trophy will be decided after consultation with these specialists.”
Following Haddin’s injury, Australia had called in the services of Tim Paine as a cover for the back-up keeper, Graham Manou. However, as Manou is not selected for the one day internationals squad, Tim Paine will be expected to play in Friday’s one-day game against Scotland in Edinburgh, and also the two Twenty20 matches at Old Trafford and seven one day internationals against England.
Now, Australia find themselves in the need for another reserve wicketkeeper, and Chris Hartley seems like a favorite. The 27 year old Hartley is currently playing in the Northern League and was next in line for Manou and Haddin during the team’s 2 day warm-up match during the Ashes.
Australia’s next campaign will see them play two Twenty20 matches on 30th August and 1st September, after which the team will embark on a seven match one day international series against England from the 4th of September.