Matthew Hayden takes swipe at Australia batting coach after MCG Test ends in two days: ‘Not a fan of him, not personal’
Matthew Hayden expressed displeasure with the Australian batting coach after the MCG Test got done and dusted in two days.
There's a lot of furore over the Melbourne Ashes Test between Australia and England, concluding inside two days with the latter coming out on top by four wickets and registering their first Test victory Down Under in 14 years, equivalent to 5468 days. The ICC has already rated the pitch as “unsatisfactory” due to the presence of 10mm grass, which made it hard for batters from both teams to get going and spend significant time in the middle. However, former Australian batter Matthew Hayden side-stepped the pitch talk, blaming the batting coach of the hosts, Michael Di Venuto, for the side's repeated failures.
In the Melbourne Test, Australia returned with scores of 152 and 132, and England did not have any trouble in chasing down the target of 175. Hayden said that he is not a fan of the current batting coach, as the batting has left a lot to be desired for several months, with the likes of Alex Carey, Marnus Labuschagne, and more struggling in both pacy and spin-friendly conditions.
It is worth mentioning that the current batting coach, Di Venuto, has extensive experience, having amassed a total of 25,200 runs in first-class cricket. However, he failed to earn the coveted Baggy Green as his career coincided with some of the modern-day greats.
Also Read: What made Perth ‘very good’ and MCG ‘unsatisfactory’: Breaking down ICC’s pitch verdicts on two two-day Ashes Tests
“That’s an unacceptable scorecard. I don’t care if it was 50 millimetres of grass. You need to be better than that. Head, Weatherald, Labuschagne, Khawaja, Carey, Green; they’re all at sea with their basic techniques. The only technical thing I see is coming from our bowlers, who look more technically sound than our batters. Why is that?” Hayden said on the All Over Bar The Cricket podcast.
“I’m not a fan of him. It’s not a personal thing,” Hayden said of Di Venuto. “I just think for too long there has been an influence in this group around batting, and I don’t feel it’s served the development of the team or the technical element of Test cricket. Not just on green wickets but in the subcontinent, where we’ve been competitive but haven’t had the skill sets required to cope in those conditions,” he added.
‘Accountability’
Hayden, who's regarded as one of the finest openers in international cricket, said that the time has come for some accountability to be shown, as one cannot be allowed to repeatedly get away.
“At some point, you have to take accountability. That’s the piece I really struggle with the most. It’s like, ‘Yep, it’s green, therefore we’re going to play a certain way. ’ Or, ‘It’s spinning’ like in Delhi a couple of series ago. Every player was sweeping on a wicket that wasn’t turning an inch,” he said.
"You didn’t see Ricky Ponting batting at three, like Marnus Labuschagne is, throwing his wicket away. There is no fricken chance because … you would have your teammates and your former generation of players saying, ‘Bud, this is not the way we play cricket," he added.
Australia have already secured the Ashes as the hosts have a 3-1 lead and only the final Test remains, which will be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground from Sunday, January 4.
