So Matthew Hayden calls it a day… Like most Australian cricketers, you often do not need to attach an extra word to that phrase called “finally”. A lesson which no Indian cricketer, specifically the batsmen, can ever get to understand. They liked to be pushed and ejected out with a crowbar and some cool character assassination slanders thrown in.

If indeed Matthew Hayden wanted to carry on till the next ashes, he perhaps should have done what most high-profile batsmen in various other countries do, when the runs don’t back their place… “Keep quiet and cut the grandiose statements”. Matthew didn’t follow that either. He just loved to annoy.

On hearing the news, sure enough there will be many bowlers around the world playing today that would be secretly rejoicing in their bath-tubs, completely sick and tired of being bullied around like a ping-pong ball when they came on to bowl.

Some may even contemplate coming out of retirement now. Sanath Jayasuriya in his prime had that effect! Ask Venkatesh Prasad or Manoj Prabhakar… If they are in a good mood after a few beers, they might secretly tell you that.

Together with Langer, Hayden had built a dreaded opening combination and perhaps rightfully should take credit of being an important stimulus in the last decade, that revived test cricket to the extend it is now. They made it exciting and there was almost always a result with their consistent and well-paced starts. Test cricket might well have been truly dead, if it wasn’t for a bunch of freaks with their incredible all-around abilities that kept it at moderately healthy levels, specifically in Australia and England.

One group loved being the sadistic gloater, mercilessly trampling lesser sub-human opponents like some of the extras in a 1950 Godzilla flick. The other group harped on the only notable achievement in the history of their game, by beating a champion side once and this remained their crowning glory ever since a bored barrister, took a piece of wood and knocked all the lemons hanging about on a tree, right across to his neighbours yard, in a bid to annoy them.

The success of Hayden also signaled and contributed to the theory of the modern trend of ‘power-athletes’. Big, powerful people, spending endless hours in the gyms pumping up the irons, where brute force and intimidation got better results than deft touches and stylish photo-finish stroke plays.

He leaves now behind a glorious career with a good record in all formats of the game, a massive reputation and a void at the openers slot that would be notable in the coming years. There may be folks that would replace him in terms of runs,but none can cause that intimidating or annoying effect he had. Leave alone the landscape behind the wickets which would now be visible.

Yeah, imagine this big tree trunk, starting out late in his career, casually walks down half-way and waits for you, while you are steaming in all set to bowl your fastest ball… Makes you want to bowl a beamer at him, doesn’t it? That infuriating… But how much he used all that to good effect for him and Australia within the highly competitive and limited chances offered to him, lies the real story of Matthew Hayden.

On a jovial note, the fans around the world will ‘probably’ hear no more of his third person speeches or his zen theories in cricket. One can expect the monkey to come out in his book in line with the current Australian team’s tradition.

The sad part is that there are now fewer cricketers around which we all sometimes love to hate.

What a player Matthew Hayden has been.