Matt the Bat starts the mind games

[Donny]

Hayden warning to Indians
By Jon Pierik
November 6, 2003

MATTHEW HAYDEN has branded the Indians mentally fragile against short-pitched bowling and has questioned whether their pace attack can prosper on Australian soil this summer.

As both nations eye next month's eagerly awaited Test series, the world's No.1 batsman says his Indian counterparts will have their psychological and technical deficiencies exposed on Australia's fast and bouncy wickets.

"They are so loose outside off stump and someone like (VVS) Laxman is really scared of the short ball," Hayden said. "In fact, I think the majority of them are worried about short-pitched bowling.

"You just have to look at the wickets they play on and see why they are going to nick (the ball) a lot.

"It will be interesting to see their strategy coming into the Test series, whether they'll try and be aggressive like they are here or whether they'll try and make us bat for long periods of time.

"They have probably fallen into the mistake of building us up a bit too much. Like most world teams they get a bit intimidated by the names (and) I think by the way we play our cricket as well."

Sourav Ganguly and his men lob Down Under for a four-Test campaign beginning at the Gabba on December 4.

On their previous Australian tour in 1999-2000, the Indians were thumped 3-0 with key batsmen Rahul Dravid (93 runs at 15.5), VVS Laxman (221 at 36.83) and Ganguly (177 at 29.5) struggling to deal with the foreign bounce generated either by the pacemen or Shane Warne.

Hayden said Dravid, nicknamed "The Rock" because of his solid defence, was India's "real key".

"Technically, he just keeps it really simple," the Queenslander said.

"He is really slow. He hasn't got a great deal of shots, not that he lets us know, anyway.

"(Sachin) Tendulkar is always dangerous because he can flay and get away with it and I guess (Virender) Sehwag is the same."

Left-armers Zaheer Khan and the recuperating Ashish Nehra are likely to spearhead India's attack.

Khan conceded 10 runs and lost the verbal war with Adam Gilchrist and Hayden in the opening over of the World Cup final this year and could struggle again, Hayden said yesterday.

"We have already seen from Khan that he hits the track really hard back off a length, but in Australia we'll be pulling that," he said.

"Is he going to be short and full, is he going to answer those questions?

"They haven't got that explosive pace."

[Joe]

This guy has no respect for the opposition.Give a bloke a world record even though I could have made that score and it goes to his head.
Lillee,Garner,Richards,Haynes had so much gracefulness and style in there demeanors.
This guy is very rough.
Pull your head in thats all I can say.

[Donny]

Yeah, I must admit, Lillee DID show some style when he graced Miandad's bum with his boot.

[Joe]

Wats that Donny is matt having a (deleted for distinct lack of humour)

[HAL]

Did you know that you can download your own chat robot and create your own robot personality, Joe?

[Donny]

Bounce hell out of Sachin
By Adam Hawse
November 9, 2003 - Fox Sports

THE star-studded Indian batting line-up, headed by superstar Sachin Tendulkar, are in for a summer of short, searing deliveries by Australia's pacemen.

That hostile tactic is assured following comments from Australians Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden last week ahead of the anticipated four-Test series, which begins in Brisbane on December 4.

Former Test star Dean Jones also weighed in, saying Tendulkar will be targeted "around the face".

In the subcontinent for the triangular one-day series against India and New Zealand, Ponting is already looking forward to the recuperating Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie and Glenn McGrath bowling to the Indians on home soil.

"No doubt they'll be tested out a fair bit in Australia," he said. "I know (Sourav) Ganguly has been out to Australia and speaking to (former Australian captain) Greg Chappell about how to play short-pitched bowling, so I think we're all pretty much aware of it and all our bowlers are looking forward to getting them on our wickets.

"They're not used to the ball bouncing up around their shoulders and their chests and we are, that's what we're brought up with, and we should be able to handle that better than most do."

Just a day earlier Hayden also said publicly that India were susceptible to the short ball.

With a 16-man Indian squad for the Test series to be named this week, Tendulkar will again be the key to their hopes.

Tendulkar has a Test average of 56.57 from 107 Tests but, more importantly, he is one of the few Indians who doesn't leave his best form at home when he tours overseas.

During India's last series in Australia in 1999-2000, Tendulkar was the victim of at least two dubious umpiring decisions, yet still finished with an average of 46.33.

India's other vaunted batsman VVS Laxman (36., Sourav Ganguly (29.5) and Rahul Dravid (15.5) were all disappointing.

Jones, a player with vast experience against India, is in no doubt what is in store for Tendulkar.

"I tell you what, they are going to be bouncing the hell out of him," Jones said.

"They believe he has a weakness in the top half of his body and he uses big heavy bats that weigh nearly three pounds.

"Brett Lee will hopefully be fit, McGrath and Gillespie will be back, (so) they will really want to sort him out.

"They believe he is so good at anything around his belly and where the ball comes, height-wise, around the knees and front foot.

"They will want to keep them upstairs around his face.

"So I do say he will be getting what we call 'chin music'."

The upcoming Test series holds extra significance after the unforgettable showdown between the two teams on the subcontinent in 2001, won 2-1 by India.

Former Test bowler Damien Fleming, who dismissed Tendulkar twice in the 1999-2000 series, said the bouncer can work against the batsman he rates the best player in world cricket.

"Of the times I had success against him, a couple of times were with the shorter ball when he props forward and looks to drive and he has quite a heavy bat," Fleming said. "That worked for a couple of times and we thought we'd found the secret.

"Then all of a sudden he started to prop on the back foot and those bouncers were going for fours and sixes.

"That's why what I found you had to do was continually change your game plan. Bring him forward for a while then try a bouncer, or get him back and then throw in a wider outswinger."

[Donny]

" ... even though I could have made that score ... "

In ya dreams, Joe.
---------------------------------------

Hayden gets down and dirty
By Malcolm Conn - Fox Sports
December 3, 2003

THE real power behind Matthew Hayden's success has been revealed by his opening partner and great mate Justin Langer.

"He thinks he's the gladiator - he thinks he's Russell Crowe," Langer mischievously told a pre-Test lunch of 500 people in Brisbane yesterday.

Langer encouraged fans to look out for Hayden's strange ritual in tomorrow's Test and went on to give an animated demonstration of how Hayden goes down on his haunches, lifts his bat and touches the ground at the start of every innings.

"I always thought he was just stretching his back out," Langer said while a slightly sheepish Hayden sat beside him as part of a guest-speaking panel.

"I went down to him this time and I said: 'Mate, does this help you bat?'

"He said: 'Nah, I'm just grounding myself'.

"I said: 'What's grounding yourself?'

"He said: 'You know, like Russell Crowe and the gladiator. Before he fights he gets down and puts his hand in the dirt. That's grounding yourself. That's what I do'."

A laughing Hayden responded to Langer's tease, saying: "No secret's safe with you, is it mate?"

Amid much laughter Langer said he was the luckiest man in world cricket because he always got to walk out to bat with the gladiator, who's also a priest because he says his prayers.

"How can I go wrong?" Langer said.

[HAL]

How did you hear about HAL?

[Donny]

Hayden serves a warning

S Rajesh - Cricinfo

India may have had the better of the exchanges in the first Test, but Matthew Hayden showed just what might be in store for the Indians in the remaining Tests. His 99 was remarkable for the utter disdain with which he treated even the good balls. Of the 98 balls he faced, 51 of them pitched on a good length, which were dispatched for 52 runs. When the Indians pitched slightly short, though, Hayden was far less destructive: 30 balls just short of a length fetched just 12 runs.

How the Indians bowled to Hayden

Length Balls Runs Scoring rate

Half-volley 8 19 237.50
Good length 51 52 101.96
Just short 30 12 40.00
Short 9 16 177.77


Ajit Agarkar was the only bowler who managed to curb the Hayden charge. As the table below shows, against the rest of the bowlers, Hayden scored at more than a run a ball.

Hayden against the Indian bowlers

Balls Runs Scoring rate

Agarkar 27 19 70.37
Nehra 34 36 105.88
Zaheer 12 14 116.67
Harbhajan 20 24 120.00


Meanwhile, two wickets in the Indian second innings might have saved Nathan Bracken from being dropped for the second Test. One of those wickets was, inevitably, Virender Sehwag's, whom Bracken has now dismissed five times in the last five innings, stretching back to the first match of the TVS Cup tournament in India. Sehwag did manage 17 runs off Bracken in the first innings, but most of those were after he was dropped in the slips off Bracken early in the piece.

Sehwag v Bracken in the last 5 innings

Balls Runs Dismissals Ave

39 21 5 4.20