Peter Nevill: Potential successor of Brad Haddin

Having started his first-class career at Victoria, wicket-keeper cum batsman Peter Nevill, now 29, has been a tectonic member of the NSW side ever since he joined the Blues in 2008. He is closing in on 3000 runs in first-class cricket with 6 tons and 15 fifties to his name at an impressive average of 44.27

Nevill recently broke into the record books after his 235-not-out against Tasmania, the highest Bupa Sheffield Shield score by a keeper. It was a timely knock considering the fact that Brad Haddin is not getting any younger by the day and the question that for how much longer the 37-year-old can continue his role behind the stumps for the Australian team.

The young Australian’s skills as a batsman were never in question as even when Brad Haddin returned from international duty, the NSW selectors have often found room in the side for both players. His best season with the bat came in 2011-12 where he averaged over 50 and eventually was included for Australia’s tour of West Indies as backup for Matthew Wade.

He’s still biding his time in the shadow of Brad Haddin but the backup Australian wicketkeeper would want to be at the Caribbean than anywhere else right now; even though the NSW gloveman is almost certain to sit out for both the Tests against the Windies. His inclusion for the Caribbean tour and the subsequent Ashes campaign, however , is a noteworthy sign that Nevill is the frontrunner for Australia’s next wicketkeeper, especially after Haddin announced retirement from one-day international and many reckon that he would call it a day in the test arena as well at the end of the upcoming Ashes series.

Nevill appears to have brushed past Wade and other rivals such as Sam Whiteman and Ryan Carters, owing to a prolific domestic summer in which he scored 764 Sheffield Shield runs and grabbed 29 catches. He is expected to have some game time in the Caribbean, playing alongside Haddin in Antigua starting on Wednesday.

While Haddin will don the gloves for the match, Nevill says he’s happy to play the role the team required. “I’m happy to be playing. I’ve done this before at Shield level, been in the field and Brad keeping,” he said.

He says preparing to play without any firm indication of actually getting a chance is the life of a wicketkeeper and one he’s become accustomed to. “I’ve made sure throughout my whole career that I wasn’t concerning myself with the ifs,” he said. “I’ve been able to maintain my focus on what’s directly in front of me the whole of the last Shield season and that’s stood me in good stead and eventually got picked for this (tour).”