Haddin has coaching potential - Bayliss

Not only does England's new coach Trevor Bayliss believe Steven Smith is an ideal fit for Australia at No. 3, he is also adamant that the wicketkeeper Brad Haddin should be placed on a fast-track to become a coach in retirement.

With the possible exception of Australia's captain Michael Clarke, who worked with Bayliss at the formative stage of Under 19s cricket, no two cricketers have been more closely linked to the former Sri Lanka and NSW coach than Haddin and Smith.

At Sheffield Shield level, Bayliss was an advocate for Smith to move up to No. 3 in the batting order, a position he went on to take when scoring a fine century in the 2014 competition final against Western Australia. He has also spoken at length to Haddin about the transition into coaching whenever he chooses to hang up his gloves.

"My view on that is I think he would make a good coach," Bayliss said of Haddin. "He's got the respect of the players and he's obviously a guy that's played at the top level and done well. And just his rapport with the players - it doesn't matter whether it's the older players or the younger players, they all gravitate to Hadds.

"He's a positive character, good to talk to about cricket and even in his role as a captain or a leader of NSW for example, he's very good with the younger players passing on his knowledge. I was actually having a few discussions with him the possibilities of, whenever his retirement happened, hopefully getting him involved somehow with NSW cricket. I think it would be a benefit to NSW cricket if they can get him involved."

The Blues and the Sydney Sixers Twenty20 side currently have coaching vacancies created by Bayliss' move to England, though the assistant Trent Johnston has been appointed acting coach of the state team for the time being. While not drawn on when Haddin might finish up, Bayliss felt sure that key figures in NSW cricket - such as the chief executive Andrew Jones, chairman John Warn and convenor of selectors David Freedman - would welcome Haddin into the fold sooner rather than later.

"To be honest I don't know whether this will be his last series," Bayliss said. "He could quite easily go on to play the Australian summer as well and if he was to do that obviously doing anything from a coaching nature with the Sixers or NSW that would obviously be out of the question.

"But look, whenever it was to happen I think there are enough people in NSW cricket that know him well enough and have got a high enough opinion of him that they'll get him in there somehow."

As for Smith, as well as revealing he had been an advocate for the 26-year-old's move up to No. 3 in the NSW batting order more than two years ago, Bayliss spoke about how he and Haddin discussed encouraging Smith's growth as a leader by making him vice-captain of the Sixers, ultimately meaning he led them to victory in the inaugural Big Bash League.

"Hadds was actually the captain at the time, and it was certainly a discussion between Hadds and myself. Hadds sort of felt that we should make him vice-captain," Bayliss said. "That was before we knew that Hadds wasn't going to be there. Then when he was unavailable we just thought 'let's just throw him in at the deep end'.

"He was strong enough of character - and a little bit like Hadds, a proactive sort of captain and he's well respected by everyone in the team and he knows his cricket. Quite simply, age doesn't mean anything and he did a fantastic job. Obviously to win the Big Bash in the first year was a great effort on his behalf.

"We all know his technique is not out of the textbook but he's a competitor. He reads the game and he works out a way with his technique to score runs. If you do that and you're confident in your ability which he is... he's now the world's best batter.

"He's the type of player I think that, faced with any challenges, he will be able to work it out. From England's point of view it will be a case of hopefully getting him into that position where he does have to work something else out and then hopefully staying one step ahead of him."