Hayden blasts James Anderson as “B-grade”
Former Australian Test opener Matthew Hayden has launched a broadside against English quick James Anderson, describing the quick as “a B-grade bowler that got his arse-whipped by Australia”.
In his recently released autobiography, Anderson described a scene in the Australian dressing room during the 2006/07 Ashes series where he took on an “arrogant” Michael Clarke, striking him with a batsman’s pad.
Anderson said he was encouraged to do so by former Australian batsman Damien Martyn.
Hayden, who was in the dressing room at the time, told Triple M’s Rush Hour show that there was less to the incident than Anderson made out.
“This has been a big incident hasn’t it; in reality James Anderson was a B-Grade bowler that got his arse-whipped by Australia that many times it’s not even funny,” Hayden said.
“Frankly I actually don’t really care what Jimmy Anderson’s got to say, but, he has actually frankly improved his bowling, thank goodness.”
Hayden also alluded to his own clash with Martyn later that night. The middle order batsman announced his international retirement two days later.
“… We’d been hammered over in England so I wasn’t pulling my punches, nor was anyone else in that particular series – you were either on board with Australia wanting to hand them the absolute whipping that they got, or you weren’t,” Hayden said.
Hayden, a member of the Order of Australia, also expressed his dismay that Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar had just received an Order of Australia Medal.
“… The reality of it is he’s living in India. I can kind of get their point, but for me I think it should be exclusive to Australians,” Hayden said.
© AAP 2013
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The Crowd Says (22) | Page 1 of Comments
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- Cricket, James Anderson, Matthew Hayden
October 19th 2012 @ 8:50am
Viscount Crouchback said | October 19th 2012 @ 8:50am | Report comment
What a plonker.
October 19th 2012 @ 8:59am
josh said | October 19th 2012 @ 8:59am | Report comment
Hayden has a point when Anderson was first in with red skunk hair. He was touted as England’s next big thing. He wasn’t then…
October 19th 2012 @ 9:23am
Disco said | October 19th 2012 @ 9:23am | Report comment
Oh, ‘the Hayden Way’.
October 19th 2012 @ 9:37am
Brian said | October 19th 2012 @ 9:37am | Report comment
Hayden really does seem like a p***k of a bloke. Not only did he sledge everyone in sight, he had no respect for his opponents, and had no idea of when to retire but all this from someone who is apparently deeply religious. More like deep hypocrite from the looks of things
October 19th 2012 @ 9:42am
josh said | October 19th 2012 @ 9:42am | Report comment
Maybe’s speaking from his own experiences. Remember when he used leave balls on middle and off? Then, frankly he improved his batting.
October 19th 2012 @ 10:58am
Ryan O'Connell said | October 19th 2012 @ 10:58am | Report comment
Josh, I remember in a Test he was clean bowled middle stump (by Curtly Ambrose, I believe?) after leaving a ball that pitched on middle. Two great things happened after this.
Firstly, after the game, Hayden said “I’d leave that ball 9 times out of 10.” To which a reply quickly came “Ok. . .but you’d be bowled 9 times out of 10 then.” Genius!
Then in his next game, there was a banner in the crowd that said “At least Slater nicks them.”
October 19th 2012 @ 11:24am
Disco said | October 19th 2012 @ 11:24am | Report comment
My favourite was after the 2005 Ashes when Hayden claimed the reason he struggled so badly was because the English seamers bowled defensively at him.
October 19th 2012 @ 12:16pm
Ryan O'Connell said | October 19th 2012 @ 12:16pm | Report comment
Haha! That’s right! How dare they not bowl half volleys on his pads!
October 19th 2012 @ 12:23pm
Pope Paul VII said | October 19th 2012 @ 12:23pm | Report comment
That’s a laugh, early in the series as per usual he advanced, to Hoggard in particular ,with total disregard for the bowler and conditions and got bugger all. By the end of the series he was defending to save his spot.
October 19th 2012 @ 7:26pm
Michael said | October 19th 2012 @ 7:26pm | Report comment
Here you go:
October 19th 2012 @ 10:19am
Disco said | October 19th 2012 @ 10:19am | Report comment
He makes quite the character study.I can’t think of anyone else who has turned promoting tourism to Queensland, and, um, enjoying the outdoors, into a personal journey/philosophy/business of sustainability and wellness.
October 19th 2012 @ 11:11am
HardcorePrawn said | October 19th 2012 @ 11:11am | Report comment
My thoughts on first reading this too, these are the words of a devout Christian who purportedly says “When I’m in trouble, I ask: ‘What would Christ do?’”
Very hypocritical IMO.
October 19th 2012 @ 11:04am
Ryan O'Connell said | October 19th 2012 @ 11:04am | Report comment
I was at a domestic one day game at North Sydney many years ago, before Hayden had made a return to the Australian One Day side. He was in the papers that morning saying he wanted his Australian One Day spot back. Some guys in the crowd were sledging him about it, and he actually yelled back at them. That wasn’t a smart move.
One guy then screamed out “Hey Haydos, what’s your one day average for Australia?”
Hayden replies “About 15.”
The super quick reply came: “And you’re TELLING us??????”
I joined the entire crowd in wetting myself.
October 19th 2012 @ 12:09pm
Pope Paul VII said | October 19th 2012 @ 12:09pm | Report comment
Interesting Damien Martyn chucked it in 2 days later.
Haydos implies that Marto wasn’t “on board”. Maybe he was just plain bored. The English 2006/7 were so woeful that the revenge or redemption mission some of the aussies were on was rendered somewhat meaningless.
October 19th 2012 @ 12:21pm
Ryan O'Connell said | October 19th 2012 @ 12:21pm | Report comment
That’s true, but the Test match that had just finished was anything but boring. It was one of the best I’d seen, and extremely exciting. After the Poms had smashed Aust in the first innings, with KP and Collingwood pouring the runs on, Warne bowled them out cheaply in the second, and then the Aust chased it down.
The weird thing for me is that the series was still alive when Martyn retired, but one more win would have secured back the Ashes. And the next game was at Martyn’s home ground, the WACA. It was all set up for a fairytale for him, but he pulled the plug.
It was weird at the time, but seeming as Hayden certainly doesn’t say Anderson was making up the altercation between them, it starts to make a bit more sense.
October 19th 2012 @ 12:49pm
Pope Paul VII said | October 19th 2012 @ 12:49pm | Report comment
So it was Ryan, well in that context it does seem a bit odd.
Still reckon Flintoff’s declaration was among the most stupid of all time though.
And it is good too hear this stuff;
whacky Ando letting loose after his long struggle for respect
Haydos, godly, contradictory and still fierce
An insight into Marto the enigma
October 19th 2012 @ 2:09pm
jameswm said | October 19th 2012 @ 2:09pm | Report comment
Stick it to ‘em Haydos!
(easy to do after you’ve retired…)
October 19th 2012 @ 4:14pm
Disco said | October 19th 2012 @ 4:14pm | Report comment
Plenty to say – take a look at all of his self-branded websites.
October 19th 2012 @ 11:56pm
RH said | October 19th 2012 @ 11:56pm | Report comment
Haydos speaks the same way he batted – on the offensivel! He may not have had the best starts to his career, but his self-belief and confidence stayed strong. He evolved his game as a batsman to suit the conditions and challenges of playing spin in the Indian sub-continent – the Indian Tour of 2001, was simply sensational.
Damien Martyn will remain the enigma he always was on the pitch during his heydays. While the Aussies were getting a bad rap for ‘sledging’ ‘psychological intimidation’, Damien would go about his business with the minimum of ‘noise’.. Along with Mark Waugh, he was the most memorable Aussie batsman I had the pleasure of viewing!
These two Aussies were of totally disparate nature, disposition but formed the core of one of the greatest cricket teams in Test history!
Jimmy Anderson has evolved from a ‘B-grade bowler’ to an efficient exponent of swing bowling. He might not command the respect from the Aussie Legends like Hayden, but the current Aussie team will definitely appreciate his qualities as a bowler. They better be, if they plan to wrest the Ashes from the Poms!
October 20th 2012 @ 10:38am
Roger Rogerson said | October 20th 2012 @ 10:38am | Report comment
Anderson IS a tool of the highest order
October 21st 2012 @ 8:03pm
Aaron said | October 21st 2012 @ 8:03pm | Report comment
Haydos is a queenslander of the highest order
October 24th 2012 @ 8:56am
Frankie Hughes said | October 24th 2012 @ 8:56am | Report comment
Anderson averages over 30, middle paced dobber.
Haydos is put that chump in his place