Haddin sets sights on Ashes comeback

Brad Haddin is confident he will have plenty of cricket behind him before November's first Ashes Test, as he prepares for his comeback from an elbow injury next week. Haddin has been out of action since May and is set to make his return for the New South Wales Second XI on Monday.

The main goal for Haddin is to ensure he is ready to go for the Ashes, which begins at the Gabba on November 25. Depending on whether he is chosen for Australia's ODIs against Sri Lanka in early November, he will have up to four Sheffield Shield matches in which to prove his fitness before the urn is up for grabs.

"There's quite a lot of games leading up to the Ashes, so from a workload point-of-view, I'm not too concerned about the amount of cricket I'm going to get," Haddin told AAP. "There's definitely enough cricket heading into the Ashes.

"It's a relief [to come back], it's obviously been a long time out of the game, so I'm actually looking forward to having a bit of a hit on Saturday and seeing how things go and hopefully progressing to the second XI game. At this stage everything is going in the right direction. I've been batting pretty consistently for the last ten days with no discomfort."

While Haddin has been sidelined, the Tasmania wicketkeeper Tim Paine has proved an able replacement behind the stumps for Australia. Paine will take the gloves for the two Tests in India and Haddin said it was touch and go as to whether he could have made the trip himself.

"It will be such a busy schedule over the next 12 months," Haddin said. "It just probably wasn't quite close enough to be right for India."