Mathew Hayden Yet to Think about Retirement

Mathew Hayden is going though a rough patch of time on the field as he is struggling to get his from back, and, as such, there is huge speculation regarding his retirement. However, the Australian opener has said that he has not thought about his retirement yet. The batsmen scored only 47 runs in the first two tests against South Africa in the ongoing test series. Loosing both the matches, Australia has already lost the series and is now more concerned to avoid a likely whitewash by the visitors. Australia’s poor form coupled with Hayden’s own off-form has created huge pressure on the 37-year-old batsman to step down from international cricket.

Mathew Hayden failed to live up to the expectation in the test series in India, followed by another poor series against New Zealand at home. Even, his struggle has continued in the ongoing test series against South Africa. Many people in Australia want chance in the Australian team, having seen Australia’s decade-long dominance being faded away. However, Hayden is not sure about his future yet.

Cricinfo reported:

Hayden said he hadn’t thought about stepping down. “I’m not sure going after you lose a series, in the middle of the series, would be the right time to go,” he told AAP. “There’s absolutely no doubt about that. So I didn’t think about it for a minute.”

There are batsmen like Phillip Hughes, Chris Rogers and Michael Klinger who are continuously pushing to get into the Australian squad with their performance in domestic cricket in Australia. So, many people think that why Australian selectors are not giving enough chances to these talented batsmen at the expense of Hayden.

Well, I agree on the fact that good performers of the state level should be given chance to play at the international level in what would give them enough exposure too. Having said that, you can not get a replacement of Mathew Hayden overnight. The experience, vision and talent Hayden offers may not be expected from a state level player. You may ask that Hayden himself earned a national team call up by performing well in the state level. Yes, I agree with you, but he did not get the chance in one day. He came only when he could show that he possessed enough maturity to play with consistency at this level.

So, I think, Hayden should not retire now because Australia has not come to terms with the retirements of some great players like Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne yet. Rather, Cricket Australia may give him rest for a series so that he could get his form back and play a crucial role in the Ashes series this year. Opposition bowlers who suffered from his devastating batting know it very well what this ‘Giant Man’ can do in his day. There is no question about his greatness.

(This entry was originally pubslihed on Thursday, January 1st, 2009)