A couple of days after Hughes' funeral, the home team finally started
preparations for the first Test against India starting December 9 and
the seamers were seen bowling a barrage of bouncers in the nets.
"Yesterday
was a very good day. We went back to cricket training. As simple as
that," said the ... year old wicket-keeper. "We all went back to the
game we loved. And it was a good day," Haddin said ahead of Saturday's
practice session.
"We just got back to cricket," he replied,
when asked if the training session felt normal. "We can try to
complicate it as much as we want, but we went back to cricket training.
Everybody did what he needed to do yesterday. We needed to feel that cricket hurt in our legs again.
"The
next two days are about getting back to training. Getting that cricket
feel back in your legs and getting that soreness that you get from miles
from out training. From that point of view, the next two days are
important to get that feel. On Sunday will be a big cricket day leading
into the Test match on Tuesday."
Skipper Michael Clarke had
put in some work at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday before he flew
to Adelaide to join the team. Still uncertain about his fitness, Clarke
practised with the team on Saturday.
"No, I haven't," said
Haddin when asked if he was thinking about having to lead the team on
Tuesday. "Michael had a good hit today. He is going to back up this
afternoon, and be involved in our session. So I haven't thought about it
to be honest."
"Michael's been strong for the team for a
long time. I think he's a tremendous captain and we want our captain out
there playing. All signs are that he's going in the right direction,
and like everyone else, we want Michael out there leading our team in
the first hour of play here in Adelaide," he added.
As much as
cricket needed to be the central theme, talk did shift back to the
events of November 24, when in the Sheffield Shield game between New
South Wales and South Australia in Sydney, Hughes was hit by a Sean
Abbott bouncer.
He died two days later, sparking an emotional outpouring across the country. The Test series was rescheduled afterwards.
Haddin,
along with David Warner, Shane Watson and Nathan Lyon, were all part of
that match and witnessed the incident first-hand. Naturally he was
asked about the fateful day and how the players were trying to move on.
"We
get back to playing the game we love. I don't think we need to
complicate it any more than that: you get back to playing cricket," he
replied calmly.
"We all love the game. That's why we're all here
now. It's a great game and been good to so many of us. Our job is to go
and play cricket, and to enjoy that. We need the support of the
Australian public and everyone leading into this first Test. We're
looking forward to playing and we need the help of everyone to enjoy the
moment and just enjoy the game of cricket."
On Friday,
Warner had excused himself from the Australian team's training, although
he had taken part in some team-bonding activities before the work-out
began.
When asked about the opener's state of mind, Haddin said,
"There was no pressure on anyone on Friday. There were no expectations
on anyone regarding what you had to do or what you needed to get out of
the net session. If you needed to take half an hour or ten minutes or
five minutes, there were no expectations. It was all individualised and I
didn't count how guys were in the nets."
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