Matthew Hayden

At 53 years old, Matthew Hayden has this physical status:

Hayden played Sheffield Shield cricket for Queensland, playing 101 matches, and scoring 8831 runs at an average of 54.85. He also played in the English County Championship, first with Hampshire in 1997 and prominently as captain of Northamptonshire in 1999–2000; his County record is 3461 runs at 55.82. Hayden's first-class career yielded 24,603 runs at an average of 52.57.

Matthew Hayden played for the Chennai Super Kings in the inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL) in April 2008, contracted for $375,000. Hayden became one of the foremost players in the league, and in 2009 won the Orange Cap as the season's highest run-scorer, with 572 runs.

In 2011–12, Hayden resigned from his positions on the Queensland and Australian cricket boards to take part for the Brisbane Heat in Australia's Big Bash League.

On 11 March 2010, Hayden announced his intention to use the Mongoose Cricket Bat, a bat specially tailored to the needs of Twenty20 cricket, during the 2010 IPL. Reactions to the bat were mixed. Stuart Law said that he would think 'twice' before using the Mongoose, while MS Dhoni said in his column that he believed in Hayden's ability 'no matter what means he uses'. After a quiet start to the third edition of the IPL, Hayden scored 93 off 43 deliveries to kickstart his campaign.

International career

Hayden and Michael Slater were both picked for the 1993 tour of England, but Slater performed better in the tour games, and secured the opening position alongside vice-captain Mark Taylor for the next few years. Hayden played a single test in the 4–8 March 1994 Test Match against South Africa in Johannesburg, scoring 15 and 5, filling in for an injured Taylor.

His next Test selection was in the 1996–97 season, with three tests each against the West Indies and South Africa. He made his maiden century (125 against the West Indies in Adelaide), but averaged only 24.1 over the six tests, including four ducks. He was dropped from the team, as the selectors favoured other openers, initially Taylor and Matthew Elliott, then later Slater and Greg Blewett, for the next few years. At the time, he was compared occasionally to Graeme Hick, a fine domestic performer but not quite good enough to make it at the highest level.

During these years, Hayden was a prolific batsman for the Queensland first-class cricket team. Weight of domestic cricket runs, and persistence, resulted in a resurrection of his international career for the 1999–2000 tour of New Zealand and the following 2000-01 summer against the West Indies. His results in those series were unconvincing, but he was still picked for the 2001 tour of India.

On that tour of India, Hayden scored 549 runs, an Australian record for a three-Test series, at an average of 109.80. Before the 2001 India tour, Hayden averaged 24.36 from 13 Tests, with one century. After that, he was an automatic selection for the Test side. He scored over 1,000 Test runs in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005, the first man to achieve the feat five times. He was selected as one of Wisden's five 2003 Cricketers of the Year.

In the first innings of the First Test against Zimbabwe on 10 October 2003 at the WACA, Hayden scored 380 runs from only 437 balls to set a new world record for an individual Test innings, passing the previous record of Brian Lara (375), set in April 1994. Hayden's total remained the record until 12 April 2004, when Lara scored 400 not out. As of May 2020, it remains the second-highest innings in Test history, and is the highest ever by an Australian. For his performances in 2004, he was named in the World Test XI by ICC.

Hayden suffered a considerable form-slump towards the end of 2004, and went for sixteen consecutive tests without scoring a century. This continued into the highly anticipated 2005 Ashes, where Hayden failed to reach 40 in any of the first four tests, which put pressure on his position in the team; a hard-fought 138 from 303 balls in the Fifth Test at The Oval arguably saved his career. This signalled a return to form for Hayden for the 2005/06 season, and he scored centuries in four consecutive Tests, including the Oval Test, then home Tests against the ICC World XI and West Indies.

Hayden's form in the 2006-07 Ashes series against England was average; he failed to reach 40 in the first three innings of the series, but again returned to form with scores of 92 in Perth, and 153 in the Boxing Day Test. For his performances in 2006, he was again named in the World Test XI by ICC.

Hayden scored 30 centuries in his 103 tests. As of January 2019, this makes him one of only three Australians to have scored more test centuries than Don Bradman (29 centuries in 52 tests), the other two being Ricky Ponting and Steve Waugh. He also scored 29 half-centuries in Tests.

In 2007–2008, Hayden became the third Australian, after Donald Bradman (four centuries in five Tests in 1947–48) and David Boon (three tons in five Tests in 1991–92) to register three or more hundreds in a Test series against India. For his performances in 2007, he was named in the World Test XI by ICC.

Hayden has recorded three or more centuries in successive Tests three times: 2001–02 season, he registered four centuries in successive Tests against South Africa, at Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Johannesburg; during 2005–06 with centuries against England at The Oval in 2005, against a World XI at Sydney, and against the West Indies at Brisbane and Hobart in 2005–06; and in 2007-2008 he scored three centuries in successive Tests against India.

The 2008–09 season was Hayden's final season of Test cricket. In nine Tests against India, New Zealand and South Africa, Hayden managed only 383 runs at 23.94, with two half-centuries and three ducks. His career ended when he was dropped from the ODI Australian team. Soon after Hayden announced his retirement from all international and first-class cricket prior to the tour of South Africa in 2008–09. His place was filled by young New South Wales opener Phillip Hughes. He finished his test career with 8625 runs at an average of 50.73.

Hayden's most notable opening batting partner was Justin Langer. The opening pair represented Australia in more than 100 Test innings. The pair made 5654 runs while batting together in opening partnerships, with an average of 51.88 runs per partnership; as of January 2019, only Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes of the West Indies have scored more Test runs as an opening partnership, with 6,482 at an average of 47.31.

Hayden was a regular and successful slip fielder for Australia, and he took 128 catches during his Test career.

Hayden played as an opening batsman in the Australian team in 160 One Day Internationals throughout his career. He made his ODI debut for Australia in 1993 against England, but after playing 13 ODIs in 1993 and 1994, he was dropped from the team until 2000.

Hayden played in the Australian side that won the 2003 One Day International Cricket World Cup. He was dropped from the ODI squad because of poor form after The Ashes in 2005, but returned to the Australian squad in the 2006–07 Australian season after Simon Katich fell out of favour and Shane Watson was injured.

On 20 February 2007, Matthew Hayden posted his highest ODI score (181 not out) against New Zealand at Seddon Park in Hamilton. It was at the time the highest ODI score ever by an Australian and gave Hayden the unique distinction of holding both the Test and ODI record scores for an Australian batsman until the ODI record was broken by Shane Watson who scored 185* in 2011. His knock of 181* is the second highest ODI innings in a losing cause in ODI history just after Charles Coventry's 194*.

He dominated the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the West Indies the tournament's best batsman, scoring three centuries before the completion of the Super 8s section of the tournament; he was only the third person to achieve this feat (the previous being Mark Waugh and Sourav Ganguly). The century against South Africa came off just 66 balls and broke John Davison's record for the fastest century in a World Cup. The Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis awarded Hayden with honorary citizenship after the match. His record was broken by Irish batsman Kevin O'Brien in the 2011 World Cup when he struck a century off 50 balls against England. Hayden also became only the second player in World Cup history to surpass 600 runs in a single tournament; he scored 659 runs for the tournament at an average of 73.22. In September 2007, Hayden was named ODI Player of the Year after his dominating performance throughout the World Cup. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo. For his performances in 2007, he was named in the World ODI XI by the ICC and Cricinfo.

Hayden played only one more season of ODI cricket, his last match for Australia being the second final of the 2007–08 Commonwealth Bank Series.

Hayden played nine Twenty20 Internationals for Australia, including the 2007 ICC World Twenty20. He was the tournament's top scorer, with 265 runs. He scored 308 runs in T20Is with the average of 51.33 when retiring. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo for the 2007 T20I World Cup.

For his performances in 2007, he was named in the World T20I XI by Cricinfo.

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