Haddin avoids 'funky' approach to Twenty20

Brad Haddin insists Twenty20 is not just a young man's game and is confident Australia will be successful at the World Cup by employing similar fundamentals to the ones that work in Test and one-day cricket. Haddin, 32, has been encouraged by the high-class performers who have stood out in the IPL and expects more of the same in the Caribbean over the next month.

"I think everyone around the world is just starting to take Twenty20 seriously," he said. "I don't think it's a young person's game. You look at the success of Haydos, Gilly, Tendulkar, Roy and the likes at the IPL, the best players are still the ones that are performing."

The only problem for Australia with Haddin's theory is that their most experienced batsmen are no longer with the squad. Ricky Ponting has retired and Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds only play in the domestic leagues. Even when they were with the national side it struggled to stay in touch with the trend-setting outfits.

On Friday Michael Clarke departs from Sydney in charge of a fresh-faced unit that will attempt to avoid a repeat of Australia's first-round exit in England last year. Despite the personnel changes, Haddin is not forecasting a dramatic overhaul in the way the team operates and said the fundamentals that ensure success in the other formats remain relevant.

"I find if I get in trouble in Twenty20 cricket it is when I'm trying to reinvent the wheel," he said. "We've sort of seen as the game has started to progress, the guys who are leading the run-scorers in the IPL now, it's Kallis, Tendulkar, and those sorts of players. The fundamentals are still pretty similar. If I try to get too funky, it's only going to lead to my downfall."

As the Australians completed their pre-tournament camp there were batsmen trying to learn - or perfect - the ramp shot over the wicketkeeper and the bowlers were testing different variations in an effort to stay ahead. They have two warm-up games next week in St Lucia before the group matches against Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Last year Australia were knocked out by West Indies and Sri Lanka, but Haddin doesn't expect the situation to be any easier this time even though the group looks friendlier. "The beauty of Twenty20 is because it's such a short form of the game, any team on any day only needs a couple of players to go off to be in the contest," he said. "For an easy part of the draw, I don't read too much into that. Bangladesh are a very dangerous team in the shorter form and with Pakistan you don't know what you're going to get."

Despite the growing status of Twenty20, the format is still well short of ODIs and Tests in terms of respect. Haddin couldn't remember appearing in the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa in 2007, when Australia lost their opening game to Zimbabwe. He wants this trip to be much more memorable.