January 26. 2009 22:31

Statistically the best opening batsman Australia has ever had and the Second best opener, the world has ever seen, Tower House Opener and Australia’s run machine, Matt Hayden bids adieu from International Cricket. One of the Six Cricketers to have scored in excess of 30 test hundreds, Hayden is the only cricketer to have scored 1000 runs in a calendar year for Five Successive Years. Brilliant one isn’t. (Ala Bjorn Borg or Federer @ Wimbledon).

In his pomp, he blasted the hope away from the opposition and apparently he made bowling look like the profession of last choice. Nasser Hussain and Co found out precisely that, on the first day of the Ashes Test at the Gabba several summers ago, when Hayden pulverized the English Attack and remained unbeaten on 186 at the end of day one. The Series was won on the first day itself and Poms were beaten even before the battle has begun. One of the reasons Australia was so successful over the years was their ability to score runs at a fair clip which gave their bowlers ample time to bowl out the opposition twice. Hayden invariably set the tone for this batting onslaught. If Greatbatch and Jayasuriya were instrumental in changing the face of ODI with a brutal hitting, Hayden certainly deserved the Kudos in the longer format of the game.

Hayden’s career was not all that rosy to start with. He played just 7 tests in his first six years and was in the wilderness till 2000. Steve Waugh the then Aussie captain, handpicked this powerful Queenslander and the opener repaid his captain’s faith with bucket full of runs in the 2001 tour, which Australia lost. But Hayden Won. He never looked back since then. Waugh predicted Hayden will end up with an average over 50. The left handed opener obliged !! He followed up with centuries after centuries and was the cornerstone for Australia’s 16 Successive Test Wins not once but on two Occasions. Remarkable Player. Hayden is a brilliant fielder as well and has taken in excess of 100 catches.

Hayden, on his day could hammer the bowlers without mercy and Shaun Pollock will have fond memories of Hayden’s brutal innings in 2007 WC in Caribbean. Hayden went on to become the leading run scorer in the tournament and no doubt he was instrumental in helping Australia to win the WC for the Second Successive time without losing a single match. For Hayden, it is not "caressed the ball for six" though. It is all about Power. Few would argue that his highest individual score of 380 at the WACA was against the bunch of weekend ‘pie-chucker’s’. Well, when I last checked the history books, Hayden wasn’t the only one who played against them and yet he is the only one who made that count. Period. !!

Last year he was thumping the Indian bowlers at will down under as he scored 3 consecutive 100’s at MCG, Adelaide and SCG. A year later, he hardly made an impact and managed to score just two half centuries in the last 10 test matches. It certainly was a blot in his otherwise impressive CV. If Hayden could pull out his magic Vs the Proteas in the recently concluded home series, the Pandora’s box would have never been opened, which might have allowed him to retire at the Oval. He failed to make an impression at the top of the order and it was only a matter of time, he is removed from the mantle. Hayden promptly decided to take a call on his own instead of allowing the selectors to un lid the can of worms.

How good is Hayden when compared with the likes of Dravid, Tendulkar, Inzamam, Lara, Mohammed Yousuf, Kallis and his team mate Ponting?

Almost everyone in that list have splendid averages and for some of them it is in high end of 50’s, which is a true benchmark of great cricketers. Hayden is perhaps the only one in that list with a susceptible technique and surprisingly for a left hander with less range of shots. I believe he would certainly have struggled in another era since he is technically not so competent. But, when he was crashing runs Vs the Cracker Jack bowlers in dustbowl subcontinent wickets, he was seriously a good cricketer. Anyone who doubted his temperament, would have to see his innings at Sharjah Vs Pakistan under searing heat, which Wisden later described as Hot-as-Hell, Hayden plundered 119 runs in that test, when none of the other 21 cricketers managed to score a half century. Make no mistake, it was an innings of highest quality.

Hayden is someone who will always be remembered for playing with the best of his abilities and played with an iron hand than to play to the lobby galleries. He played tough, hard, uncompromising cricket. Hayden is the only cricketer to have scored 1000 runs in a calendar year for Five Successive Years. Brilliant one isn’t. (Ala Bjorn Borg or Federer @ Wimbledon). Those golden run was enough of an achievement for many, including this author, to clamber onto the Hayden bandwagon.

A great cricketer of his generation? Certainly Yes. A great cricketer of all time? Possibly No.

Matt the Bat, Thanks for your Memories.

Bharani