Hayden Takes Walk In The Wilderness

Sydney Morning Herald

Friday January 9, 2009

Chloe Saltau with Jamie Pandaram

THE selectors have gone cold on Matthew Hayden, who has indicated he might pre-empt them by retiring from Test cricket in the coming weeks.

Axed from Australia's Twenty20 and one-day international squads, Hayden flew home to Brisbane yesterday with his wife, Kellie, and three children for a period of soul-searching that will determine whether he attempts to make tours of South Africa and England. Hayden said he would make his own decision but he will be acutely aware of the distinct change in the tone of selection chairman Andrew Hilditch, who had previously stated he wanted the 37-year-old for the tours of South Africa and England.

"I have made it very clear that our advance plans were for Matthew Hayden to go through to the end of the Ashes. That would be our ideal outcome. We have got to sit down as a selection panel and make a decision whether that is still the way we want to go," Hilditch said.

Hayden departed the limited-overs arena reluctantly but understood the need to usher in a new generation of players for the 2011 World Cup. He intends to represent Queensland in their next Sheffield Shield game, against Western Australia from January 30, but may choose to walk away on his own terms. It would be an agonising decision for a man who previously fought his way back from selection oblivion to be regarded as one of his country's greatest openers.

"The flame does burn within and I guess that may be the hardest part to reckon with," Hayden said yesterday. "It is as simple as playing out the summer, being committed to that and taking the time and the energy to just get back on the horse or make a decision not to.

"I think it is in my court. I will take that time because I respect the game and I respect this team and if I don't feel I am contributing to that culture, not just in runs but in terms of being a senior player and a bit of a custodian to the old school of our great game, then I will be knocking on their [the selectors'] doors," he said.

"That is not just a position I have had, it's gone before me as well, guys looking at themselves in the mirror and saying, 'Maybe it is time to go . . . or, saddle up, pull your socks up, get on with it.' We've got South Africa and we've got the Ashes, which are two tremendous tours."

Hayden made 117 runs at 19.5 in the Test series against South Africa but Hilditch emphasised Hayden's Test performances did not influence the decision to discard him from the abbreviated forms after 161 one-day internationals and two successful World Cup campaigns. The touring party for South Africa will be chosen after the next round of Shield games, in which the selectors will monitor Phil Jaques's return from back surgery. It will be the only chance for Jaques and fellow contenders Chris Rogers and Phil Hughes to stake their claims at first-class level.

Jaques is the leading candidate, having scored a century in his most recent Test against the West Indies. Rogers said it was hard to know whether Hayden's spot would be available or whether his 661 runs at 82.62 for Victoria this summer would be enough to earn him a recall more than a year after his Test debut.

"If he does decide to give it away or whatever hopefully an opportunity will come up," the 31-year-old said. "The formula they have used for a while now is that you prove yourself over a long period of time and that would hold me in good stead."

The selectors may decide to hasten the regeneration process by promoting 20-year-old opening prodigy Hughes, if not for South Africa then for the Ashes.

"From a personal point of view that would be a bit disappointing but I would understand. The way things are going they are going through a bit of a rebuilding phase," Rogers said.

Hilditch made it clear yesterday he viewed Hughes as a rare talent. "He is an exciting player and we are watching him carefully," he said.

© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald

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