Paine helps soothe skipper's angst

In addition to his "faultless" glove work and crucial lower-order batting contributions, Tim Paine has exerted an important calming influence over skipper Steve Smith since being recalled to Test cricket four months ago, according to former Australia keeper Brad Haddin.

Having returned to Australia's Test XI last November after a seven-year absence through injuries and limited opportunities, Paine has effected more dismissals (35) than any of his rival international keepers and averaged more than 42 with the bat.

Which is the best batting return by any Australia gloveman in Tests since a badly fractured finger forced Paine out of the game and into the international cricket wilderness in November 2010.

Haddin, who was the immediate beneficiary of that injury and whose batting average of 29.17 in 39 Tests after it happened is the next-best by Australia keeper throughout that seven-year period, admits that he always viewed Paine as a threat to his incumbency behind the stumps.

And now that he has earned his recall and been an integral member of a team that has won five of their seven Tests since his return, Haddin believes Paine has improved even further after this summer's Ashes triumph when he snared 26 dismissals in five Tests.

A number unsurpassed by an Australia wicketkeeper in a home Ashes campaign since Rod Marsh's 28 in 1982-83.

"I think his keeping has gotten better since the Ashes," Haddin said today as players from both rival camps took a few days' break before the third Test of the Qantas Tour of South Africa begins in Cape Town on Thursday.

"I think the dismissal he got up to the stumps off Mitchell Marsh (at a vital stage of the first Test at Durban) was as hard as you get.

"That just goes to the work he's done, and he's been faultless behind the stumps, I think.

"He's also our link between the middle (order) and the tail, and he's really changed the momentum of the game.

"He understands how to play with the tail, whether he needs to push the game forward or shelter the tail a little bit.

"So from his batting point of view as well, and that was brought up before he was picked (for the Magellan Ashes series), he's really understood his role and made a difference there."

But it is Paine's clarity of thinking and calmness of demeanour that Haddin, now Bupa Support Team men's fielding coach, believes has proved just as vital to Australia's recent on-field performances as his contributions with gloves and bat.

As his myriad mannerisms reveal, Smith can be an anxious figure in the field as he constantly searches and pushes for means by which wickets can be captured and opposition scoring can be stemmed.

As his trusted lieutenant in the slips cordon – with vice-captain David Warner usually deployed to the in-field to liaise directly with bowlers – Paine not only provides informed feedback and knowledgeable insights, but crucially helps quell the skipper's unease when plans are not working.

"He's a really good sounding board to Steve Smith out on the field," Haddin said of the 33-year-old who has now played 11 Tests.

"He's a really good calming influence on Steve, if you notice in the game they spend a lot of time talking to each other.

"That's the role of the keeper - we've got the best eyes there. And he's got a really good cricket brain. The more confidence he's got at this level, the better he's been for Steve and around the group.

"He is that calming head, he's been around a long time and because he's had that time out of the game he's really, really hungry to get better and that's rubbing off on all the players."

Haddin, who played 66 Tests and completed 270 dismissals, also lavished praise upon Proteas' keeper Quinton de Kock for his ability to regularly stand up at the stumps when South Africa new-ball bowler Vernon Philander is operating.

With reverse swing playing a decisive role in the first two matches of the four-Test series at Durban and Port Elizabeth, de Kock has routinely come up to the stumps even though Philander consistently bowls around 130kph.

The ploy is designed to prevent batters from taking guard outside their crease in an attempt to disrupt bowlers' lengths and minimise the impact of the swinging ball.

The presence of a keeper breathing down their collar can also increase the pressure that batters feel, but it escalates the risk of sharp catches being missed and severely tests a gloveman's acumen.

While acknowledging that Paine and de Kock are vastly different keepers in terms of technique and aesthetics, Haddin claims the 25-year-old South African has acquitted himself creditably in such difficult circumstances.

"I've been impressed with the way de Kock has come up to the stumps to Philander," Haddin said today. "I think he's been faultless up there as well and he's had to take a lot of balls up to the stumps.

"He (Philander) is quite hard, I'd imagine, to keep to up to the stumps because he does a lot off the string (seam) of the ball.

"He (de Kock) is a different keeper to Paine.

"There is not as much feet movement or the elegance of a (former Australia Test keeper Ian) Healy, but he just catches everything.

"He's just such a natural catcher."

Qantas tour of South Africa

South Africa squad: Faf du Plessis (c), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Theunis de Bruyn, AB de Villiers, Dean Elgar, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Morne Morkel, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada.

Australia squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Cameron Bancroft, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Jon Holland, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, Jhye Richardson, Chadd Sayers, Mitchell Starc.

Warm-up match: Australia beat South Africa A by five wickets. Report, highlights

First Test Australia won by 118 runs. Scorecard

Second Test South Africa won by six wickets. Scorecard

Third Test Newlands, Cape Town, March 22-26. Live coverage

Fourth Test Wanderers, Johannesburg, March 30-April 3. Live coverage