Shane Watson has made a successful return to cricket after a three-month injury lay-off but Brad Haddin's batting woes continued as the pair came face-to-face in a Sydney grade cricket match on Saturday.
Playing his first game for Sutherland against Haddin's Eastern Suburbs side at suburban Waverley Oval, Watson smacked seven fours in a 27-ball 30 and bowled six overs, taking 0-17 in the Sharks' five-wicket loss.
He bowled well within himself, operating at slow to medium pace, but came through with little inconvenience.
The all-rounder last played in Australia's second Test win over South Africa in Johannesburg in mid-November and hopes to figure in the latter stages of this month's triangular international one-day series.
He plans to continue his comeback in NSW's Sheffield Shield clash with Western Australia starting Friday in Perth.
"I've been waiting quite a while for this moment. It was nice to get out there and spend some time in the middle," Watson said.
"It's been a very frustrating couple of months and I missed it a lot."
"I got through it with no issues. It all worked out pretty well"
Haddin's hopes of an immediate return to the Australian one-day side suffered a setback when he was out for just one off two balls.
He attempted to loft NSW teammate Steve Smith down the ground but only succeeded in skying a simple catch to cover.
It was a lazy dismissal, adding to Haddin's dreadful run of outs with the bat this summer.
He had earlier spent a rare stint in the field after Easts stuck with Haddin's state deputy Peter Nevill as wicket-keeper.
The in-form Nevill repaid them with two catches and a match-winning 98 not out.
It's been a reoccurring theme for Haddin this season.
The Australian selectors rested the out-of-sorts gloveman from the first three matches of the triangular one-day series, replacing him with Matthew Wade.
Wade struck 67 in his debut match against India and followed it up with four catches and a stumping in the win over Sri Lanka on Friday night, turning up the heat on Haddin.
The selectors will announce their squad for the next batch of one-day matches on Monday, with Haddin expected to return despite his slump.
There is speculation Wade may be retained in the squad as a batsman.
Unlike Watson, Haddin refused all media interviews after his grade failure.
