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Brilliant Hayden's retirement may be on the horizon

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Pablo Luna - Moonlighting for Betfair. Pablo tells us why the unpleasant yet superb Matthew Hayden may be just six Tests away from calling it a day

Matthew Lawrence Hayden (born 29 October 1971 in Kingaroy, Queensland, Australia) has a dilemma. Should he retire now? He is a cricketing senior citizen at 36 years old but has not showed any signs whatsoever of a decline in form. In fact the opposite, he has had a marvellous series against India posting three centuries at an average of 82.00. He was also Australia's top run scorer despite missing the Perth Test where his fear factor was sorely missed! Had he played in that game Australia might not have lost!

He has now moved ahead of Sir Don Bradman and Jacques Kallis into sixth place of Test Cricketers with the most test centuries. But for the Gilchrist retirement on Australia Day, Matthew Hayden's name would have dominated the sport pages. It took Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar 99 tests to get to 30 centuries. It took Ricky Ponting 102 and Brian Lara 117.

Has this muscled, belligerent Queenslander been the best opener in the world in all 3 forms of the game? Probably, although his batting is more violence than beauty - he has definitely been the most potent! Along with Gilchrist in the limited-over version of the game, he has been one half of the best opening partnership by a distance. Words like decimation and slaughter spring to mind.

Hayden currently holds the records for the highest scores made by an Australian batsman in both the Test (380) and One-Day International (181 not out) arenas. He is also the ICC One-Day Player of the Year 2007. Please see link for his career statistics: http://content-www.cricinfo.com/australia/content/player/5616.html

You cannot underestimate his achievements irrespective of whether you like him as a man! As a person I do not like him! This barrel chested bully contradicts his faith with pure vitriolic repugnance and he has done more for sledging than the most reviled politician! There is no fondness for him from opposing sides and many will be glad when he decides to go!

He has now played in 94 Tests and there must be an urge to make it 100 Test Matches! If his form had suffered I am sure he would have retired shortly after Gilchrist but he can visualise some boot filling in the current Triangular Series with India and Sri Lanka.

I listened very carefully to his eulogy to retiring Adam Gilchrist for clues and noted two important sentences. Whilst praising his colleague he used the phrase 'we have had tremendous careers' and then 'time to move on with our careers'. Both points were said in past tense and my guess is Hayden will retire once the ton has been achieved!

At this moment in time Australia need him, though he was not fit for the Brisbane ODI against India. He should be available for the Sri Lankan game in Sydney on Friday 8 February 2008 and should Australia, the [1.12] jollies to win the Commonwealth Bank Series justify their favouritism, Hayden will inevitably be a big part of this. At this stage of his career with retirement pending he will be keen to finish on a high and join the baggy green immortals. This makes him even more dangerous, check the Betfair markets and back him is my confident advice...

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