Melbourne, Mar. 2: Wicketkeepers in Australia are locked in a keen battle for being incumbent Brad Haddin''s understudy during the Ashes in England.

A Fox Sports report says that the leading contenders are scoring heavily in a late-season rush to impress the selectors.

The keepers are jostling to fill Luke Ronchi''s shoes after the West Australian was dropped by his state last month.

Ronchi''s future looks grim with national selector Jamie Cox declaring the understudy job vacant. Cox urged the prospective applicants to go forth and score runs.

Sydney, Feb 21 : Australian wicketkeeper-batsman Brad Haddin on Saturday said he had waited for 10 years to play for the country, and now the time has come to show some cricketing skills on the international level.

"I had waited ten years to play for Australia, and now time has come to do something on international level," Haddin said.

The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Haddin, who had broken his finger just before his Test debut, as saying that Test cricket is about playing more than cricket and it also tests the fitness of player as well.

Potchefstroom (South Africa), Feb. 20: Australian wicketkeeper-batsman Brad Haddin believes that batting prodigy Phillip Hughes will be a huge success on the current tour of South Africa and beyond.

Haddin knows Hughes better than any other Australian player and predicts immediate success for his 20-year-old NSW teammate because of his ability.

"He''s one of those players who comes along every now and again that no matter what age they are, the situation of the game or the quality of the opposition just doesn''t seem to faze them," Haddin said.

Sydney, Feb 14:

Sydney, Feb. 9 : Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting has said that wicketkeeper-batsman Brad Haddin can open the batting for "as long as he likes" after scoring his maiden one-day international century to set up Australia''s victory against New Zealand at the SCG on Sunday night.

The victory, just Australia''s second win in eight one-day matches this summer, and their first in three against New Zealand, keeps alive the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy series with matches to come in Adelaide on Tuesday and Brisbane on Friday.

Melbourne, Feb. 5 : New Zealand cricket captain Daniel Vettori''s text messaged Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin to clear the air following the glove affair in Sunday''s one-day match, and both players are happy to move on.

Kiwis skipper Vettori told Haddin he in no way intended to refer to the wicketkeeper as a cheat, after questioning his role in the dismissal of batsman Neil Broom, which replays showed should have been no-balled because Haddin''s gloves were in front of the stumps.

Haddin thanked Vettori in a reply text and said he would also like to put the incident behind them. Earlier that day, Haddin had attacked Vettori for questioning his integrity.