Australia coach Tim Nielsen hailed England's sportsmanship in allowing them to bring in reserve wicket-keeper Graham Manou for his Test debut at Edgbaston yesterday.
Australia coach Tim Nielsen hailed England's sportsmanship in allowing them to bring in reserve wicket-keeper Graham Manou for his Test debut at Edgbaston yesterday.
Australia, who finished Day One at 126 for 1, suffered a setback shortly before the match started when regular wicket-keeper Brad Haddin sustained a finger injury during the warm-up.
Haddin had been named in the Australia team at the toss and that meant the tourists had to seek permission from England captain Andrew Strauss to select a specialist replacement in South Australia's Manou for an unexpected Test debut.
This series, which England lead 1-0, has seen some controversial moments with Australia captain Ricky Ponting all but accusing the home side of time-wasting during the Cardiff Test and Strauss under fire for claiming a disputed catch during England's win at Lord's.
"To refuse is well within his rights," Nielsen told reporters. "It was a fine gesture. We used the England team doctor to assess Brad's finger, he was concerned about its stature, the process worked really well and for the game's sake we are now going to have 11 fit blokes on each team."
Nielsen added: "Haddin has fractured the end of the ring finger on his left hand. He was catching the fast bowlers at the end of the warm up.
"Knowing we were batting, he stayed out to catch a few extra balls, one dipped a bit and hit him on the end of the left ring finger.
"He's got a fracture in the last part of his finger."
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