Aggressive sportsman. Opener extraordinaire. Caring family man. The contradictions that define Matthew Hayden are perhaps best explained in Standing My Ground, his no-holds-barred autobiography of life on and off the cricketing field. The excerpts from his book will give an insight into the Aussie mindset, particularly towards defeat
Aggressive sportsman. Opener extraordinaire. Caring family man. The contradictions that define Matthew Hayden are perhaps best explained in Standing My Ground, his no-holds-barred autobiography of life on and off the cricketing field. The excerpts from his book will give an insight into the Aussie mindset, particularly towards defeat
On field, he bludgeoned bowlers with his array of shots. Off it, he was a caring, softhearted family man. His burlesque figure was an imposing sight for the opposition and viewer. Quite the opposite of the gentle father he is to his three kids, Grace, Joshua and Thomas. He invited the ire of the opposition for his sledging and is a devout, practicing Catholic.
This list of contradictions is baffling and insightful when one looks at the life of Mathew Hayden, the mainstay and opener extraordinaire of the Australian national side for 15 years. His opening partnerships with Justin Langer and Adam Gilchrist rewrote several chapters of the modern-day game, making him the ultimate team man who put country before self. Steve Waugh wrote of him, "No one ever gave Haydos any free passes.
He got there the hard way. Matthew took opening to a new level with his aggressive, dominating style.' Waugh's praise perhaps best embodies this gritty cricketer and everything he stood for. He played the game the hard way, sans the shortcuts.
This biography echoes the man. Candid. Cut-throat. Cricket-centric. No head-spinning stats, no painfully long eulogies and thankfully, no top-ten-favourite-cricketer lists. If you're a student of the game, pick this one, to learn how one of the most sturdiest and reliable game changersu00a0u00a0 played the sport.
Excerpts: Indian Uprising, Pages 170-173
The Second Test, in Kolkata, was one of the most memorable matches of all time: India recovered from a follow-on to score a stunning victory, ending our 16-match winning streak. The turning point was the epic partnership of Rahul Dravid and V. V. S. Laxman, who came together late on the third day when India were 4/232, needing 20 to make us bat again. You couldn't have predicted it on form. Dravid hadn't scored a run all series, and Laxman had failed twice in the First Test, but they gave not a solitary chance in 90 overs and made 335 together on day four. Some of the shots Laxman played against Warnie, advancing down the wicket and smacking him over the infield, were simply outrageous. They were so good that the replays should have displayed a warning: Young cricketers, don't try this at home.
On that fourth morning, we'd been so confident of preserving our winning streak that Michael Slater had produced a box of cigars, provocatively sniffing one as if to say, 'This result is so close I can smell it.' We all saw the humour, as you do when you've won 16 in a row and fully expect to extend the margin. At that point Gilly had played 15 Tests in his careeru00a0-- and won the lot. But it just shows what can happen when you take success for granted. Chasing 384 to win, we collapsed on the last day and lost the match in front of a crowd yelling so loudly you felt as if you were at an AC/DC concert. We were stunned. The bottle of Southern Comfort Stephen Waugh had put under his chair for the celebrations was broken open to drown our sorrows. Gilly snapped one of Slats' cigars over his knee.
Just after we lost that Second Test, our coach, John Buchanan, made a tactical error in publicly questioning Warnie's fitness. Warnie was filthy, and I don't blame him. We didn't need to make further trouble for ourselves. I thought Warnie's problem in India was simply that he tried to spin the ball too much. Big turn never worried the Indians. They've played it almost from the cradle. Warnie would've been much better bowling a straighter line, keeping the pressure on with sliders and zooters and other more subtle tricks. He did this brilliantly in Sri Lanka in 2004, in his comeback series after a year-long drug ban. Warnie loved his big-turning leg break, and it was one of the best natural deliveries the game has seen. There was no question Warnie had the ability to test the Indians, and it was never a matter of them being too good for him. He just had the wrong strategy.
On we went to Chennai for the Third Test, and I took great joy in living out the prediction I'd made to Matthew Elliott three years before. I made 203 of our first innings of 391, and had the pleasure of dedicating my score to Kell for her 26th birthday.
I was 147 not out overnight, and so excited that when I spoke to Kell on the phone, she thought I was never going to get to sleep. My sweep shot was in such good order that at one point India had four men prowling the fence, including two standing 10 metres apart. (Scorers later calculated that I compiled 60 per cent of my 549 runs for the series with the sweep. I scored as many runs in that one series as I had in my previous 13 Tests.)
My elation was cut short, however, when we lost the match on the final day. It's difficult to do justice to the sheer pandemonium that broke out in Chennai when Harbhajan Singh pushed Glenn McGrath square of the wicket to give India their victory total of 155 runs for the loss of eight wickets. It had been one of the greatest series ever. For almost a year it had been hyped as the last frontieru00a0-- and suddenly it became our lost frontier. It wassuch a close thing. You never expect to win when you set a side only 155 for victory, but we scrapped and scrambled and almost got there. All seemed lost at 2/102, and even at 5/132 at tea we looked like we were gone. Three late wickets gave us a chance, but then it really was over.
Steve Waugh admitted at his final press conference that the pain of the loss was slightly lessened by the knowledge that the teams had given cricket something very special. The series revitalized Test cricket and attracted record ratings in both countries.
Standing My Ground, Matthew Hayden, HarperCollins India, Rs 599. Available at leading bookstores
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