Karthik007’s Blog

Not many could have thought that young Matthew Hayden, who was considered ‘too fat’ to play for Australia, would go on to become one of the best opening batsmen Australia has ever produced.

The majority of the players in our Australian team have come through the ‘traditional’ pathway program, from the under-17 Australian championships to the under-19’s and then the Centre of Excellence (or what was then called the Cricket Academy). The interesting thing about ‘Haydos’ Matthew Hayden is that he was overlooked at almost every stop and was even thought to be overweight and not the ‘right’ build to play for Australia, Aussie coach Tim Nielsen wrote in his column.

Yet after breaking in with Queensland, he made so many runs at a state level in his first three seasons he forced the selectors hands and earned his Baggy Green against South Africa in Johannesburg in 1994.

Struggling for his first few Tests, the ‘nay sayers’ probably thought they were to be proven correct but as is typical of Matthew he never took it lying down, he wrote about the gritty batsmen.

Continuing to dominate at state level after being dropped, he got himself a trip to India with a development program in 1999 and worked hard at adapting himself to the conditions on the sub-continent. Refining his game, we started to see more of the sweep shot, better use of his feet and he got another chance in 2001. The rest as they say, is history, he adds.

Scoring the most runs in a three-Test series for Australia against any opposition he set himself on the way to becoming maybe the most successful Australian opening batsman in history, he wrote.

That first day I saw him I noticed the same determined look in his eyes when he crossed the white line that I still see today. Maybe it was that early rejection that first got him motivated, but in some ways I think it’s one of his best attributes, he adds.

He’ll aim to keep proving people wrong as he did when they said he was couldn’t play spin, couldn’t adapt to turning sub-continent wickets or couldn’t win the battle over any particular bowler, he wrote.

I remember during the 2003 World Cup when I was an assistant coach with the team, Zaheer Khan had stated before the final that he felt Hayden struggled against him. After watching Matt plunder twelve of his first over on his way to a match defining opening partnership with Adam Gilchrist, I’m sure Zaheer regrets throwing out the challenge, he added.