Every six hit by David Warner in his phenomenal debut for Australia in the Twenty20 match at the MCG against South Africa was a nail in the coffin of Matthew Hayden’s hopes of toughing out his batting slump for a final Ashes series later in the year.
At the end of the Sydney Test, most of the pundits suggested Hayden would have to make a big score and do it convincingly to remain a hope to tour South Africa, and then England later in the year for the Ashes series.
In the end, he scored 39 runs in the second innings in an erratic manner, hitting out early on and then trying to dig in later on in the innings.
As he walked off the SCG, there was no indication that he believed he’d played his last Test innings. There was the characteristic straight-back, military stride off the field, a raising of the bat and then the departure into the dressing rooms.
The television cameras focused on his wife Kellie, who stood as her champion made his exit. There was a suggestion of a standing ovation from the crowd. But there was nothing of the emotion that greeted Steve Waugh’s last Test innings at the SCG.
There was no overt suggestion, either, from the chairman of selectors, Andrew Hilditch, that this was it for one of Australia’s greatest Test players.
Hilditch talked about how “everybody can access statistics” when referring to Hayden’s last run of low scores. And “we don’t go on emotions or hunches or personal preferences … experience helps.”
All these signs suggested that the barrel-chested Hayden, ‘Haydos’ to his team-mates, was determined to bat on, at least until after the Ashes series.
But now a week or so after the Test, we have the announcement of Hayden’s retirement from first-class cricket (presumably he’ll still play the lucrative IPL circuit) and the sight of him receiving his official farewell from Australian cricket during the second Twenty20 match against South Africa in his home town of Brisbane.
What happened to force the change?
In my opinion, he was belted into retirement by the remarkable onslaught by Warner on the South African bowling attack at the MCG.
Warner scored 89 off 43 balls.
Even more remarkable was that the first two deliveries he faced from Dale Steyn, the scourge of Hayden and the other Australian Test luminaries, were smashed for sixers.
What this onslaught showed was that Australian cricket was holding back its talent to gratify the interests and inclinations of an old guard player who had little to offer the national team in any forms of cricket.
The interesting aspect of this analysis is that if Michael Clarke did not need to rest an injured thumb, Warner was not going to be picked to play at the MCG. And until Warner’s onslaught, there was not the slightest suggestion that Hayden was going to retire.
The talk was that he had to score runs in a Sheffield Shield match for Queensland to ensure his selection for South Africa.
Warner then demolished the South Africans and Hayden announced his retirement.
At his press conference, Hayden was asked whether he had entertained the hope of playing in the Ashes at the beginning of the summer. His answer was equivocal, in my view.
The fact that he was there at the press conference announcing his retirement, he suggested, meant he didn’t aim at continuing on for the Ashes series.
Well, perhaps.
What I think may have happened is that the selectors told him that the press of the younger generation of stars, as exemplified by Warner, meant that the ‘experience helps’ policy was going to be abandoned. In other words, he had already been dropped from the national sides in the shorter form of cricket and now he wasn’t going to be selected for the tour of South Africa.
The passing of a champion is always a sad business.
This is especially true if the champion seemed to be reluctant to be put out to pasture. But Hayden had a very good innings. In fact, two innings, one of which – the first eight years of his Test career (13 Tests and only one 100 and one 50) – not so good, and the second (29 Test 100s and thirty 50s) 30 centuries), one of the best ever in Australian cricket.
With a Test average of just over 50, a highest score of 380, 30 Test centuries (only Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting have achieved this for the Baggy Greens), and a strike rate of a century for just over every third Test innings (Don Bradman 1.95 and Clyde Walcott 2.95 are the only better strike rates), Hayden is rated by experts like Mike Coward as being in “a class of his own” and Ricky Ponting as “the best Australian opener ever.”
On statistics it is hard to argue with these assessments.
Mark Taylor, for instance, averaged around 43 runs an innings. It’s hard, though, to see Hayden as so much better than Taylor. And going back in time, than Bill Lawry, Bob Simpson (both of whom I saw bat) and Arthur Morris and Bill Ponsford, previously rated as the best Australian opening batsmen ever.
The phrase that is often used about Hayden is “flat wicket bully.”
At his best there was a swagger, a menace and a physicality about his batting that was very intimidating. In his prime, he stood well out of his crease and often advanced towards the fast bowlers as they delivered the ball.
He seemed to be determined to convey the impression that he was not only going to smash the ball to the boundary but if the bowler’s head was taken with it, so be it.
And yet this muscularity sometimes, and especially on tricky pitches, reduced Hayden to a stiffness and inflexibility that led to his dismissals.
In the 2005 Ashes series, for instance, when he was in his prime, he averaged 35, well below his usual average.
There was a bludgeoning force in his play. But it lacked the deftness and skilfulness of a true master able to amass his runs despite the quality of the bowling and the lack of quality of the pitch.
I always had the impression that when Hayden was batting at his best, this is the way a village blacksmith might bat, with mighty strong-arm hits if he shifted trade from the anvil to the cricket pitch.
There is some irony, then, that it was many great strikes from the newest Australian strongman, David Warner, a sawn-off version of the retired champion, that has forced Matthew Hayden into his retirement.
El Capitan
Guest
Hayden was saying this morning of breakfast tv that his daughter asked him to retire to spend more time with them. Prob partly correct, as he said his daughter starts yr 1 this year and his eldest son starts prep (class before yr 1 here in qld). I for one are sick of commenators saying how good a player is in 2020 when the fact it its a completly different game to test cricket. its this bash a thon that the crowd want to see fours and sixes. No real "shots" compared to the test arena. No I think Hayden was sick of all the press and chose to leave in front of his home crowd. His decision may have been forced after not being in selectors minds for the 2020 and ODI. Regardless he will be remembered as a great cricketer who played the game hard and fair. Not many players can boast averages above 50 and play for longer than 15yrs at top level.
Stoffy
Guest
I'm not so sure that Warner's onslaught of the Proteas in Melbourne discouraged Matthew Hayden's final decision. In fact judging by the nature of Hayden, i believe he understood that Australia cricket was in fine hands with another quality opener to fulfill the position with ease.
Sluggy
Roar Guru
"Finally, is anyone else disturbed by Hilditch constantly airing selectorial thoughts in the media? " Yes. The selectors should be detached from the immediate team surrounds and unseen and unheard... they should not even sit in the team era, they should be behind the bowlers' arm at the opposite end of the ground with a pair of binocs and a note pad. (OR a lap top or whatever). They should not have any communications with anyone except the medical staff and the media manager at CA who can publish the team lists. If they adopted this rather old fashioned policy, then they could make the hard decisions which familiarity with the team members and staff discourage.
Harry
Guest
Well that was much as expected. I'm guessing Hilditch had told Hayden after his axeing form the one day teams (they let Hayden know he was being left out the night of the 3rd test win) that he would also be excluded from the test team to SA. Warner's dash probably made up Haydens mind to announce yesterday rather than before the scheduled one-dayer in Brisbane, but i'm sure the acutal decision had been made before that - I suspect after the unconvincing boxing day knock actually. A magnificent career despite the rather embarasssing last two weeks. Average of 50 + and 2 one day world cups. Strong record in India and Australia, curently the hardest places to score runs. Hard to compare different era's, in my lifetime I would say the guys that had to play against the West Indies in the 80's and early 90's (eg. Al Border, David Boon) are the ones who really had it hard and whose performances are probably better than the records indicate.
sheek
Guest
Greg, Your comments make it unnecessary for me to say anything much. I totally agree. In another thread, Warner is selected for the tour of England on the strength of his T20 debut innings.....hello? I think some Roar fans are getting confused by the entirely different skill sets required for test cricket, first class cricket, one day cricket & T20 cricket.
James Mortimer
Guest
Greg and Skull, I totally agree. One match does not make a star or a legend. Let's see Warner play South Africa on their own turf in a test match before we start calling him "the don mark II". Equally (despite me being one of them) - he has now retired, and I think that despite deserved criticism of him recently, that now that he has retired, we should reflect on his greatness. In his prime he was simply awesome. Let's not dissect him or offer his weaknesses anymore. But Hildiitch, I think we should dissect till he can't move. What a disgrace. His comments regarding Lee, Huss and Haydos were appalling. Is there no sanity in CA? Is someone not seeing what an absolute clod this clown is. As Spiro pointed out in a previous article, he's getting six figures for what? But in regard to selection, I had totally forgot about Tait and Bracken as international (or close too) bowlers. Equally with batsmen like Hodge and David Hussey. Why were these names not put forward for Test selection when Australia was struggling. I think it's not so much a case of South Africa and India challenging Australia's reign, as much as Australia conceding their own might with ineptitude in the corridors of power.....
Skull
Guest
I must agree with Greg Russell, in regards to Warner. I think any mention of test cricket for Warner is way off the mark. It wont take long for international class bowlers to work him out
Bob McGregor
Guest
Great servant that Hayden was, I was of the belief he should have gone when Warne, Gillchrist and McGrath decided to pull stumps. By staying on the selectors made the mistake of choosing personnel based on past glories rather than current form. This delayed the elevation to higher honours of the up and coming brigade. Wallaby selectors made the same mistake and continued to select players way past their use by date. When such inflated pay packets are about is it any wonder that players want to stay around as long as possible? Selectors must be ruthless at such times otherwise the recycling process will take much longer to implement. Comparing players from different eras is always fraught with danger because so much has changed. As an oldie who saw Morris bat both in Shield and Test matches I would rate him as the best I've seen but we need to remember he played against the top teams all the time. But then, the frequency of Tests in Morris's era were but a fraction of that current. Needless to say I enjoyed watching both ply their art. Happy retirement Haydo!
Greg Russell
Roar Guru
Does it occur to anyone else that there has been an over-reaction to David Warner? No question he possesses rare talent - one can't fluke an innings like his at the SCG. But the essence of batting is consistency. Compare Duminy and Warner: one backed up a bravura MCG performance with an equally impressive innings at the Gabba last night, the other backed up by barely middling a ball. Warner needs to mount a more sustained case (as, for example, Phillip Hughes has been doing) before he is taken anywhere further. I also do not see any real connection between Warner's emergence as a T20 (and possibly ODI) player and Hayden's retirement from test cricket. Even before Warner's innings at the MCG, Andrew Hilditch had told the world that Hayden's ODI and T20I career was over. Of the many people being spoken about as potential replacements for Hayden in the test side (I have seen Jaques, Hughes, Rogers, Marsh, Klinger and Hodge all mentioned in despatches), Warner is just about the only one not mentioned as a chance. Finally, is anyone else disturbed by Hilditch constantly airing selectorial thoughts in the media? Since the SCG test I am aware of him saying to the media that (1) Hayden is finished in short forms of the game, (2) Australia lost the test series because of poor form by Hayden, Lee and M Hussey, and (3) Hodge is too old for ODI and T20 selection. Notwithstanding that some of this is not true (ask domestic bowlers around Australia if they think Brad Hodge is too old for the 2009 T20 WC!), since when does the chairman of the Australian selectors say things like this in public? Trevor Hohns did not, and certainly Lawrie Sawle did not. Gee, I wonder why two of these three were highly respected and considered very adept at their job, while the other is not.
Terry Kidd
Guest
I was too young to see him, but from everything I have read and heard about him, I would have loved to see a fit and healthy Arthur Morris bat on today's pitches and with the bats of today .... his career was quite short and he was never really healthy ... just imagine the runs he may have scored but more importantly how they would have been scored ... if Hayden was the armoured knight weilding a broadsword then Morris would have been the fencer weilding a rapier. I believe that the runs would have flowed just as quickly. Morris is my greatest ever opener for Oz.
Roger
Guest
Hayden certainly pounded blowers on flat Australian tracks but credit must be given for his play on other overseas pitches (e.g.India, West Indies etc etc).
LeftArmSpinner
Roar Guru
In terms of nails, Warner's 20/20 knock might have been the final nail, but every Hayden innings after his Achilles injury was ensuring that the coffin would be soundly built. Warner, meanwhile, was trying to get runs in Sydney grade cricket. Now, we wait for the selectors to finally get it right. I'm not holding my breath.