Haddin struggles to shake off injury

Brad Haddin injured his shoulder but his competitive instincts kept kicking in, so twice he thrust his right arm in the air for an appeal.

And twice the wicketkeeper winced in pain.

“It was like mice getting tested wasn’t it, with the buzzer,” Haddin said after Friday’s second day of play in the second Test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi.

“Yeah, it hurt. That was just reaction.”

Australia’s Test keepers are expected to be tough as nails in the mould of Wally Grout, Rod Marsh and Ian Healy.

Haddin fits.

He made his Test debut in the West Indies despite a broken finger and has carried plenty of other finger injuries into Tests since.

Friday’s heroics with an injured shoulder add to the NSW gloveman’s legacy as the hard man of Australia’s Test team.

The 37-year-old dived to catch a ball from pace bowler Peter Siddle, which had been edged by batsman Younis Khan and bounced just in front of Haddin on Friday morning.

Haddin landed heavily on his right shoulder and immediately signalled to team doctor Peter Brukner to assess the damage.

Haddin gritted his teeth and played on for another 15 deliveries before departing.

Opening batsman David Warner took over behind the stumps but Haddin returned to action following the lunch break.

Haddin was again in charge of the gloves at the start of the evening session but left the field when the third new ball was taken because he thought he may struggle to get his arms up quickly enough.

“Your pain threshold is probably different to mine. I don’t know,” Haddin told reporters when asked to list the pain level on a scale of one to 10.

“It’s uncomfortable. I’ll know more tomorrow.

“There’s no way I’m going for a scan. It only rules you out.”

Haddin says his concern is helping the team, not the risk of further damage.

“It’s a Test match. It was my decision to go back out,” he said.

“I had to also think of Davey Warner.

“I wanted to see how I’d go and basically make sure he had the best preparation he could to open the batting.”

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