Nifty Nevill proves a quiet achiever

Peter Nevill has been forced to wait – and fight – to prove himself to the Australian public as a worthy successor to Brad Haddin.

Debuting during the Ashes in England, Nevill did his best work while most of his country was asleep, snaring seven catches and making an assured 45 in the second Test at Lord's.

Yet the headlines centred more upon the absence of Haddin, who ruled himself out of the Test due to the ill health of his daughter.

Amid cries of protest from Australian legends Shane Warne, Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden among others, the veteran wicketkeeper was then a controversial admission for the next match, and never played for his country again.

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Nevill kept his head down, continued to exhibit his efficient glovework behind the stumps and added a maiden half-century to his name at Edgbaston.

But some impressive form with the bat from Matthew Wade in the ODI series that followed the Ashes and a string of failures in the Matador Cup for Nevill raised questions about his rightful claim to the long-term spot in Baggy Green.

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Others criticised the selectors for having a New South Wales bias, a long-standing perception that has little credence today given the presence of just one Blue among the four-man National Selection Panel.

Throughout, Nevill remained unperturbed.

Experienced and hardened from a lengthy first-class career (in which he averages 41 with a highest score of 235no), he kept faith in his own ability, and so too did the selectors who had clearly rated him the finest keeper-batsman in the country.

He spoke with the press ahead of the first Test in Brisbane but dealt primarily in platitudes, refusing to wade into any murky waters from which a headline could be fished.

Instead, he went about his business as he always does; purposefully and without fuss.

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He took four routine edges in that match, kept expertly in both innings, and did not bat.

It was Nevill's first Test on home soil – a monumental moment in any cricketer's career but, typically, he didn't figure in much discussion surrounding the match.

Ian Healy always compared good wicketkeepers to the drummer in a band; keeping the rhythm of the team but doing so away from the spotlight.

Similarly, the mantra goes that a quality wicketkeeping performance is one that nobody notices.

Nevill personifies that notion.

In Adelaide, he's had two days he'll always remember.

Three catches on day one were highlighted by his snare to remove half-century maker Tom Latham.

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Standing up to the off-spin of Nathan Lyon, Nevill reacted perfectly to a thick edge from the left-hander, staying low and shifting his hands ever-so-slightly to his left with lightning reflexes to hold the chance.

For wicketkeeping nuffies, it was poetry in motion.

That he backed it up today with a fighting 66 – his highest score in Baggy Green and the highest of the match so far – added further testimony to the case that this is a man well-equipped to handle the heat of Test cricket.

His teammates say the quiet Nevill we're exposed to outside the boundary perimeter is not much different to the Nevill who takes his place in the middle.

On that front, he might differ from his predecessor, but in every other aspect, he's carrying on a proud tradition.