Dumped keeper looking for runs

THE pre-Ashes message from chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns to snubbed keeper Peter Nevill could not have been any clearer.

“I didn’t score enough runs in the first three Sheffield Shield games,’’ said Nevill, who spoke for the first time about losing out on an Ashes recall to forgotten gloveman Tim Paine.

“Trevor Hohns gave me that feedback. I appreciated it. He didn’t have to call me, and I told him I appreciated it.

“It’s about performing well, and given I didn’t make enough runs in the first three Sheffield Shield games, if the opportunity pops up in the future [to reclaim my Test spot], I need to be making runs around that time.’’

He played the last of his 17 Tests in Hobart more than a year ago, and returned to the first-class arena to blast three centuries for NSW.

But when places were up for grabs in the three Ashes auditions last month — and most believed it was a three-way tussle between Nevill, incum- bent Matthew Wade and SA young gun Alex Carey — Hohns and his selectors plucked 32-year-old Paine from oblivion. Paine had not kept for Tasmania in three summers, and played his last Test for Australia seven years earlier in India.

Nevill made 20, 32, an unbeaten 11 and 17 as the Blues’ bowlers stole the show, while Paine notched a half-century for CA XI in a tour game against England then an unbeaten 71 against Victoria.

Injury now looms as Nevill’s best chance of a recall, especially with England a chance to be spanked 5-0, and only one Shield game remaining — the Blues play Tasmania — before the Big Bash giggle starts. Being overlooked for a 32-year-old as opposed to a younger player with a longer future did not soften the blow for Nevill.

“I’ll say it did [come as a shock],’’ he said. “There was a lot of noise about it being a three-horse race, which evidently was incorrect.

“It hurts no matter who gets selected ahead of you. I certainly hope [ my Test career is not over].”