Matthew Hayden, the big boy of Australian cricket and one of the most prolific opening batsmen announced his retirement from international cricket. This puts an end to his 15 year long career. At the retirement, Hayden said that he was moving into the next stage of his life where he would love to enjoy working for Aboriginals and McGrath Foundation apart from fishing, boating and cooking. Though the announcement is a surprise, it came earlier than expected.
The 37-year-old Hayden had been going bad patches of life, running short of runs and falling short of expectations. In India recently as well as in the ongoing series with South Africa, Hayden continued to struggle with the bat. Hence, he was facing criticism from various quarters, and was dropped from the ODI squad against South Africa and living on the brink of being axed from Test squad as well.
Considering his current form and the mounting pressure to perform, Hayden has decided to quit cricket and joined the other Aussies greats like Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist and Justin Langer. This has been trend in Australia where players after gauging that they are not performing do announce retirement at the right time. Hayden did just that and in style.
Hayden’s cricketing career spanning 20 years during which he saw many ups and down. He made his Test debut against South Africa in 1993-94 but became a regular only in 2000 and went on to play 103 Test matches, scoring 8625 runs, 3o centuries and 29 fifties which is the highest by an Australian opener at an average of 50.73. In addition, he played 161 ODIs and scored 6133 runs with 10 centuries and 36 fifties. In 2003, Hayden hammered 380 against Zimbabwe at Perth, and went on to break Brian Lara’s record of 375, which was scored in 1994 though the left hander from the West Indies scored the highest score of 400* in 2004. In the process, Hayden became the highest individual scorer for Australia.
Against India alone, he scored 1888 runs, including six centuries, from 18 matches with a stunning average of 59. Hayden formed a lethal opening pair with Gilchrist in the one dayers, scoring 6133 runs in 161 matches at an average of 43.80 with 10 hundreds and two World Cups against his name. Hayden is part of the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL), and we have opportunity left to see him play again.
In cricket, Hayden, like Gilchrist, will be remembered for his aggressive batting, with high back lift and master stroke play – both the off and on side of the wicket. His sweeps, pulls and hooks were astonishingly powerful, with enough stamina to stay at the wicket for long time. Hayden has left a void that is not to be filled in the near future easily.
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