`Role model` Haddin sets remarkable standards for young Oz cricketers

Sydney: Veteran wicket-keeper Brad Haddin`s hard-earned comeback in the Australian Test team, as his daughter battles with cancer, is a perfect example for his budding teammates.

Set against the tale of four Test players who either forgot or did not get around to completing a simple task to explain how they, and the team, could improve, and against a creeping culture of slackness in the Australian squad, Haddin`s effort to get back to the Test team is a remarkable example of professionalism, in the most difficult circumstances imaginable. In the year since Haddin returned from the West Indies, his two and half year old daughter Mia, has endured extensive treatment. A stoic Haddin accepted Matthew Wade`s selection for the home summer series with good grace, but while many assumed generational change behind the stumps would spell the end of Haddin`s international career, the 35-year-old did not. Haddin is the second-highest NSW run-scorer in first-class cricket this summer, with 468 runs at 52, and with an average of 42 in the domestic one-day competition, he is a leading contender for the Steve Waugh Medal, presented to the Blues` outstanding player each season. Haddin also captained the Sydney Sixers to the Champions League title in South Africa, and filling in for Wade for three ODIs and a Twenty20 match, he marked his international return with a blinding catch at the MCG and an important half-century in a losing team in Adelaide. Sydney Sixers coach Trevor Bayliss said he doesn`t think anyone, unless they have been in Haddin`s situation, can understand exactly what is going on, but it`s one hell of an effort. Bayliss added Haddin is not a bloke who would burden other players with what he has been through, adding he doesn`t think his teammates have seen any change in him or his professionalism. Bayliss said Haddin is good fun to be around, he`s experienced and he`s had success as a captain, also, he will be of benefit to the players, and for Michael Clarke as well. ANI