Peter Nevill heaps praise on “incredibly supportive” Brad Haddin

Only 33 men have been ordained into that club of glovemen over the course of 138 years, while nearly half as many again (45) have led their nation on to the Test match field.

Pride, responsibility, anxiety, humility.

Meanwhile, Warne’s former partner in crime, Glenn McGrath, has gone from his customary prediction of a 5-0 series triumph for Australia fearing “the worst for Australia” if the pitch at Trent Bridge is similar to the seamer that was played on at Edgbaston.

On the evidence of the first Test in Cardiff, where Haddin was poor and the second and third where Nevill came out with much credit, Australia stand a better chance keeping the status quo.

Scores of 10 and three during Australia’s eight-wicket defeat by England in the third Test at Edgbaston left Clarke with a meagre series aggregate of 94 runs in six innings at an average of under 19.

Subsequently, on-tour selector Rodney Marsh and coach Darren Lehmann determined to retain Nevill as they cited lack-of-type as the rationale behind Haddin’s omission. None of the Tests have been very close have they?

PETER Nevill insists he has tried to forget any controversy surrounding his Australia Ashes selection and praised Brad Haddin’s attitude. “He has been helping me prepare as best I can to play in these Test matches”.

“I can’t speak highly enough of how good he’s been with Pete”, he said.

Nevill scoffs at suggestions the axing of Haddin, the self-confessed “drum major” of Australia’s Test team often described as their heart and soul because of his wise counsel and combative persona, has torn a hole in the fabric of the squad’s unity. Clarke will drop down to five where he has had most of his success, scoring 20 hundreds at an average of 61.83 compared to 30.89 at No.4.

“Michael Clarke needs runs but I just can not see Australia changing the captain midway through a series”, McGrath wrote in his column for the London Telegraph.

“Michael has had a long career and had a few runs of form like this in the past, and he’s come back from them”, said Bayliss, who prior to taking the England job was coaching at New South Wales – Clarke’s home state.

A feat that Haddin managed just a handful of times in his stint, that has not formally finished but seems unlikely to be revisited barring injury to the newly minted incumbent.

“It’s like a Grand Final for us, we really need to win this game and then focus after that”.

“Don’t get me wrong – we didn’t plan to be bowled out the way we were today”.

Fortunately for Clarke the player, if not for Clarke the captain, he is not the only Australian middle order batsman struggling and Adam Voges looks more likely to make way for Shaun Marsh at Trent Bridge.

Amid some pretty ordinary batting from those above him, and while some of the greats of the game were saying someone else should be in his place, a knock like that suggests to me that Nevill has the temperament to go far in global cricket.