Matthew Hayden Retires - Tribute Thread ***Breaking News***

[Zinzan]

This is even worse tbh.

Utterly brilliant

 

[bagapath]

Neil Harvey has never been anything but forthright, and his opinions have often rankled. Following his call for Matthew Hayden to leave international cricket.................................

welcome to the forum yellowmonkey

harvey predominantly battted at no.4. hayden is an opener. so a direct comparison, though you've taken into account all relevant variables, is not conclusive for me. i would rather look at their positions in the dream aussie XI

the openers will come from the pool consisting of: trumper, ponsford, morris, simpson, lawry, boon, taylor, slater, langer and hayden.

the middle order would come from: hill, mccartney, bradman, mccabe, harvey, i. chappell, walters, g.chappell, border, boon, s.waugh, m.waugh, martyn, ponting and hussey.

with bradman, g.chappell and ponting definitely getting the nod before and with border and s.waugh also likely to be preferred ahead of him, harvey's position is slightly shaky.

but, for the opening slot, hayden has as strong a case as any of the other champs in that list.

i am not a fan of hayden's, and going by written accounts, i would have loved harvey's batting big time.

but in the grand scheme of things, hayden's contribution to austalian test cricket teams of his era is likely to be more celebrated than harvey's.

 

[DaRick]

Well, I must say that Matthew Hayden was one of my favourite players.

Sure, he had his faults. He had problems with the inswinger. He could sometimes be leaden-footed. These problems (as you'd expect) were only exacerbated when out of form.

However, while he wasn't technically pretty to watch, the very manner in which he batted captivated me. His most authoritative shot was arguably his straight drive.

I do think that he was superior to any of his contemporaries (Slater/Taylor/Langer), but, despite my deep-seated dislike of the man, not superior to Neil Harvey

Nonetheless, he made the right decision. He never did look like getting back into form.

 

[thierry henry]

I feel like I'm the only person in the world who thinks this, but I would have kept him on through the Ashes if I was a selector.

I still don't really believe his form slump was permanent. 37 is not as ancient as people make out and I find it hard to believe that Hayden really is physically deteriorating to any great extent.

The way he bats, he is always prone to getting out cheaply, but it seemed like he still had the big shots in his arsenal.

 

[stephen]

Well, I must say that Matthew Hayden was one of my favourite players.

Sure, he had his faults. He had problems with the inswinger. He could sometimes be leaden-footed. These problems (as you'd expect) were only exacerbated when out of form.

However, while he wasn't technically pretty to watch, the very manner in which he batted captivated me. His most authoritative shot was arguably his straight drive.

I do think that he was superior to any of his contemporaries (Slater/Taylor/Langer), but, despite my deep-seated dislike of the man, not superior to Neil Harvey

Nonetheless, he made the right decision. He never did look like getting back into form.

But when he was out of form he always really looked out of form.

Remember how bad he looked in 96? Remember how bad he looked in 05?

He was the pillar around which the Australian middle order based their success. Perhaps it was time for him to move on but for anyone to suggest that he was not an all time great, they either hate the man (as opposed to the player) or they are suffering from a case of looking at the past with rose coloured glasses.

The fact is that Hayden is clearly one of Australia's best batsmen of all time, and certainly one of the best openers in Australia's history. Given that you have to go back to Gavaskar to find a comparable opener says a lot about how good he really was.

 

[Jono]

Love the bloke so much though. Such a passionate cricketer. Worked so hard on his game. Hope he runs for parliament. Excellent speaker and public figure.

Was just thinking he's got the politician's look when he was standing there with his family.

Haha, only in Queensland could an idiot like him, who makes fun of an Indian's accent and challenges them to boxing matches, actually get elected to Parliament.

 

[DaRick]

But when he was out of form he always really looked out of form.

Remember how bad he looked in 96? Remember how bad he looked in 05?

I have heard a lot about how uncomfortable and ill-suited he appeared to be at the highest level back in the mid-90's. However, due to my age (7 at the time) and lack of interest, I didn't see him play out of hand.

As for 2005, yes, he generally looked terrible. Like I said, his existing problems were exacerbated when out of form.

The fact is that Hayden is clearly one of Australia's best batsmen of all time, and certainly one of the best openers in Australia's history. Given that you have to go back to Gavaskar to find a comparable opener says a lot about how good he really was.

Until recently (when Smith and Sehwag became more prolific and he lost touch) then yes. However, Bill Lawry and Bob Simpson are not far behind statistically. Both also played in a more bowler-friendly era. Comparing across eras is always a thorny issue.

 

[howardj]

I feel like I'm the only person in the world who thinks this, but I would have kept him on through the Ashes if I was a selector.

I still don't really believe his form slump was permanent. 37 is not as ancient as people make out and I find it hard to believe that Hayden really is physically deteriorating to any great extent.

Irrelevant whether it was permanent. Fact is, he had a fair run of nine Tests where he underperformed (and where we lost two series - you have to expect underperforming players to get dropped when the team is losing). A rookie gets three Tests to come good, but Hayden (deservedly, given his status) was given triple that number - so you couldn't say he wasn't given a fair run. Like Gilchrist and Lara toward the end of their careers, I'm sure Hayden still had some good innings in him. But, like those guys, it's the string of failures between those innings where the concern lies.

 

[DaRick]

Haha, only in Queensland could an idiot like him, who makes fun of an Indian's accent and challenges them to boxing matches, actually get elected to Parliament.

Not that again...

 

[social]

I feel like I'm the only person in the world who thinks this, but I would have kept him on through the Ashes if I was a selector.

I still don't really believe his form slump was permanent. 37 is not as ancient as people make out and I find it hard to believe that Hayden really is physically deteriorating to any great extent.

The way he bats, he is always prone to getting out cheaply, but it seemed like he still had the big shots in his arsenal.

I agree

Seemed to be a lack of confidence more than anything and it wouldnt have surprised me if he went on another extended scoring rampage had he chosen to continue

 

[duffer]

Not that again...

Again? Was pretty much ignored in the media here.

 

[DaRick]

Again? Was pretty much ignored in the media here.

I was talking more about his periodic anti-Queensland jibes. He's probably joking, but still, I find it tiresome.

 

[Jono]

I actually think that was my first Queensland jibe tbh

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

I'll challenge anyone when it comes to hating Queensland. I hate Queensland more than all of you combined.

 

[DaRick]

I actually think that was my first Queensland jibe tbh

I do remember you making a reference to Queenslanders and racism sometime back. I don't remember the context.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

I'll challenge anyone when it comes to hating Queensland. I hate Queensland more than all of you combined.

nein.

 

[Son Of Coco]

How untidy to play half of a two-legged series and not the other half.

Exactly! Your father played half of a two-legged series and look what we ended up with


Oh, and well played Matt Hayden. He's a Queenslander, but I managed to look past that eventually to enjoy the last 6 months of his career no, no, just joking. Enjoyed watching him bat, especially in partnership with Langer. It actually felt a bit strange once Langer had left...

 

[Son Of Coco]

Very far from it. As I say, the longer he went on the happier I'd have been, because him having any further success seems pretty unlikely.

From his and Australia's POV, this is likely to be the right decision. For those who want to see him fail, it's probably a disappointing one.

You wouldn't have been able to count it anyway Richard as in your stats players that you like who were past their best (like Atherton and Noser Hussain) benefit from you removing any periods where they failed due to illness, poor form, stars being out of alignment, pads being torn, or the family dog tearing it's dick off rooting the couch.

Edit: So obviously, in the interests of consistency, this would prevent you from saying "I told you so' if Hayden failed finally at 78 years of age.

 

[thierry henry]

Irrelevant whether it was permanent. Fact is, he had a fair run of nine Tests where he underperformed (and where we lost two series - you have to expect underperforming players to get dropped when the team is losing). A rookie gets three Tests to come good, but Hayden (deservedly, given his status) was given triple that number - so you couldn't say he wasn't given a fair run. Like Gilchrist and Lara toward the end of their careers, I'm sure Hayden still had some good innings in him. But, like those guys, it's the string of failures between those innings where the concern lies.

I think it would've been more reasonable to drop him if he was averaging 10 over those 9 tests.

As it was he was still sometimes getting out cheaply (which always happens to every batsman), interspersed with some starts, mixed in with a couple of poor umpiring decisions. It's easy for a couple of bad shots, some bad umpiring, and a minor loss of form to result in an average of 20-something over a 9 test period.

In the overall scheme of things I don't think there was sufficient proof that Hayden was anything other than one of the 2 best openers in Australia.

 

[social]

Hayden hits top 10 - Cricket - Sport - smh.com.au

Let the games begin