Extra practice pleases Haddin

Brad Haddin is hoping Australia's unscheduled lay-off from competitive cricket can provide them with the impetus to dominate the npower Ashes series later this summer.

Australia's wicketkeeper-batsman has spent the last week in Leicester training with the rest of the squad who suffered a shock early exit from the ICC World Twenty20.

It was a hastily arranged training camp designed to keep those players who will be involved in the Ashes series on track before the first Test starts in Cardiff on July 8.

But after initially being regarded as a major setback to Australia's Ashes preparations, Haddin now believes it may have helped them focus on the challenge of avenging their 2005 defeat on English soil.

"We've done a lot of training and had some pretty intense training, but it's been good," explained Haddin, a member of Australia's 2005 tour squad as an understudy to Adam Gilchrist.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Brad Haddin has made the most of Australia's unexpected early exit from the ICC World Twenty20

"We only had a small group of players so you really got a lot of volume in and it was an enjoyable few days. It wasn't bad boy nets or anything like that, but we only had 10 players there so you can get a lot more done individually than you normally would with a squad of 16. It was good preparation for what's coming up."

Haddin's promotion to Australia's number one wicketkeeper-batsman following Gilchrist's retirement just over a year ago was not a smooth transition and he took 16 innings before he registered his first half-century.

But when Haddin finally ended that disappointing run he did it in style with a brilliant 169 against New Zealand in Adelaide, which prompted a stunning run of form.

Since that breakthrough innings he averaged 48.7 in six Tests home and away against South Africa, a record which suggests he could follow in the footsteps of Gilchrist, Ian Healy and Rod Marsh in becoming a major thorn in England's side this summer.

"I've actually been very happy with the first 12 months," said Haddin. "It was a shaky start but you obviously get tested a lot more in this environment, but I've enjoyed the challenge and the added scrutiny you're under at this level.

"In the last six months I've really started to understand a lot more what international cricket's like. I'm also starting to feel a lot more comfortable in this environment and been able to express myself as a player.

"I want to contribute to an Australian win. I'm not thinking about whether I'm going to be a thorn in their side or anything like that, I just want to contribute to an Australian win in the series."