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Australian cricket great Matthew Hayden has again attacked the country’s current crop of Test cricketers, claiming the withdrawal of several high-profile players from the white-ball component of the upcoming tour of Pakistan is a ‘massive flag of concern’.
Hayden, who was one of the most vocal critics of the players for their role in Justin Langer’s acrimonious departure from the head coaching position, wasn’t impressed after Pat Cummins, David Warner, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood were left out of Australia’s squad for three ODIs and a T20I to be held after the three-Test series in Pakistan.
Speaking to The Australian, Hayden believes Cricket Australia is ‘being led around by the players’, calling for those opting out of the limited-overs portion of the tour should face a pay cut.
“When players are choosing not to play for their country it is a massive flag of concern for your high-performance set-up,’’ Hayden said.
“I just don’t reckon it passes the pub test. The single biggest thing which ties everything together at that level is that you are all really keen to play for your country and if you haven’t got that, I actually question whether you have a high performance culture at all.
“It just makes it so hard to build all the things you are trying to have like team values, principles, giving a s–t about your mates.
“If you are unavailable to play for Australia, there has to be some accountability. You shouldn’t be paid for work you don’t do and should have to salary sacrifice.”
Hayden was famously one of the most passionate and driven players to ever don the baggy green, taking nearly seven years from his Test debut in 1994 to become a regular in the XI.
(Photo by Getty Images)
From there, he would become arguably Australia’s finest ever opening batter, scoring 30 centuries at an average of 50.73 before retiring in early 2009.
“I couldn’t wait to play for Australia because I spent seven years where I couldn’t get in the bloody team,” Hayden said.
“You shouldn’t be able to cherry-pick when you want to play for Australia… it doesn’t make any sense to me.
“We all know how important the IPL is and it has its window and I know it can be difficult for players and administrators to operate within the confines of modern schedules, but I still think you can’t have your cake and eat it.”
More recently, Hayden was vocal in his opposition to close friend Langer’s tumultuous exit as Australian coach, describing the culture within the organisation as ‘a leaking boat’ and particularly harsh on Test captain Cummins’ lack of support for Langer in events.
“How do you reckon he’d [Langer] be going? To hear the Australian captain offer no support and commendation. How would you feel?” an emotional Hayden said on ABC Radio.
“And now we hear Pat Cummins saying, ‘This is a high performance environment, we all go through a high performance review’.
“I’m sorry Pat but that’s garbage … this just reeks of being orchestrated.”
Cummins has since defended his and his fellow players’ role in Langer’s departure, telling SEN 1170 Breakfast on Friday there was ‘nothing untoward’ in how things played out.
“To say that we are decision-makers is quite far from the truth,” he said.
“It’s a high-performance set-up, there’s the board that makes decisions, so of course, people within the environment get consulted, that includes senior players, staff members, which I think has always been the case.
“I think that’s the right way to do things, it’s healthy. Nothing untoward, for sure.”
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