By Adam Cooper
September 5th 2008 @ 12:55am
Selectors to chat with Hayden about future
The promise of Australia’s next generation of one-day cricket openers will prompt selectors to discuss Matthew Hayden’s ambitions in the shorter game.
Shaun Marsh and Shane Watson have made solid cases to be teamed as Australia’s opening pair in the lead-up to the 2011 World Cup even though Hayden remains the side’s first-choice opener.
The veteran Queenslander has not played a one-day international since last summer because of injury, but Marsh and Watson have posted three stands of 70 or more in their six innings together since then.
Marsh, 25, and Watson, 27, represent the future, given 36-year-old Hayden has stated he does not plan to be playing limited-overs cricket in three years.
Australian coach Tim Nielsen expected Hayden to be an automatic inclusion once he had overcome an Achilles problem.
But he confirmed the national selectors had to chat with Hayden after the current one-day series against Bangladesh, to determine the best way to pass the baton.
“They (Marsh and Watson) could be around until the next World Cup and Haydos has made no secret of the fact that he doesn’t think he will be,” Nielsen said.
“It would have been nice for Matthew to be back in the squad now … but once the (Champions Trophy) didn’t happen he’s been able to slow things down a bit, looking towards India.
“We’ll sit down with him and the selectors will sit down with him and work out where he’s moving over the next 12 months and how he’d like to go about that.”
Marsh has posted three half-centuries in his first seven matches for his country, while Watson scored his maiden international ton in the Caribbean and also bowls fast-medium.
But Hayden’s likely return this summer means the blossoming partnership will have to be broken.
Hayden has been wonderfully consistent in limited overs recently, only failing once in his past 28 innings spanning 18 months, a block which includes four hundreds and seven half-centuries.
“I’m sure that Shaun and Shane will have buckets of opportunities to open the batting together for Australia in the future,” Nielsen said.
“We don’t need to rush that process too much, there is a lot of time before the World Cup and we really do think it’s important to respect senior players’ ideas of how they’d like to go out, as long as they’re still performing.”
Australia are also conscious of getting more overs into legspinner Cameron White, who is best-placed to secure the position of one-day spinner following Brad Hogg’s retirement last summer.
Nielsen said White would only improve by bowling more overs and the Victorian was able to get seven – the longest spell of his career – in yesterday’s win in the second one-dayer.
“If you have a look back at Brad Hogg’s career he probably started in a similar vein, bowling his lots of six and seven, fielding well and contributing with the bat,” Nielsen said.
“For Cameron to have bowled a couple of times in the West Indies, got seven overs yesterday and having real success on Saturday, when he got three wickets quickly, it’s all adding up to be a positive series for him.”
Australia should secure a 3-0 cleansweep over Bangladesh on Saturday.
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