Ashes 2015: Poor batting average forced Australia to drop Brad Haddin says selection chairman Rod Marsh

Brad Haddin's poor batting performance over the last few matches forced Australia to drop him for the third Ashes Test against England, according to the selection chairman Rod Marsh.

The 37-year-old opted out of the Lord's Test as his daughter Mia was ill and in hospital. He was replaced by Peter Nevill as Michael Clarke's side humiliated the Three Lions when they went on to seal a crushing 405-run victory.

Haddin was available for selection for the third Test. However, he was dropped for the match and Nevill retained his spot. Marsh says his inconsistency behind the stumps, coupled with lack of runs down the order forced Australia to omit him from the team for the Edgbaston Test.

"He's a fantastic player with a fantastic attitude," Marsh said, as quoted by Cricket Australia's official website.

"But he's averaging 15 in his last 12 Test matches, we needed runs down there, he didn't keep well and he'll admit that at Cardiff and the new boy did very, very well at Lord's, so in my way of thinking, we didn't have an option."

Nevill scored 45 in the first innings at Lord's and did not get an opportunity to bat in the second innings. He also bagged seven catches in the second Test as Australia levelled the series by sealing a crucial win.

Marsh said he and Australia coach Darren Lehmann had no choice but to go with the winning team for the Edgbaston Test match, which also led to Haddin's omission.

"We've made the call to stick with the same XI that played at Lord's and we were hoping we were able to do this," Australia's selection chairman explained.

"Obviously we had to wait on Chris Rogers but we decided that Nevill had such a good game at Lord's, the team played that well, won by 405 runs, it was very hard to change a winning side."