Wicketkeeper Brad Haddin has slammed Australia’s fielding as “unacceptable” ahead of next week’s fourth and final Test against India at the SCG.

The Aussies head into Sydney with an unassailable 2-0 lead in the best-of-four Test match series, but on the back of one of their worst fielding efforts in recent memory at the MCG.

They normally pride themselves on the high standard of their fielding, led by Haddin, but the home side grassed a number of chances and failed to take a number of run out opportunities in Melbourne that ultimately cost them victory.

Former skipper Ricky Ponting has said new fielding coach Greg Blewett can’t be blamed for Australia’s lapses in the field, rather the players have to cop the flak – and Haddin agrees.

“That (Melbourne) wasn’t acceptable for an Australian cricket team,” Haddin said.

“We set our standards a lot higher than that and we’ve got to improve.

“We can’t do that to our bowlers.

“Our bowlers are creating chances and we only need them to create 20 chances.

“We should be doing the best we can to take all those chances and make the job as easy as we can for the bowlers.

“They’ve got a hard slog out there.

“Everyone knows it wasn’t the way Australians present themselves in the field and we’ve got to be better.”

Haddin is hopeful it is just a one-off at the end of back-to-back Tests.

“I think it was just a bad game,” he said.

“It’s been a pretty long summer with the three Tests back-to-back and maybe a bit of fatigue came in, who knows?

“We’ve got time now to reassess that.

“We’ve got a good break and a couple of days off so it’d be disappointing if we’re not sharp and ready to go and fix that problem come this Test in Sydney.”