According to the cricket commentator Peter Roebuck, the decision of Australian batsman Matthew Hayden to retire from all forms of the game will provoke relief among long-suffering bowlers. He feels that Hayden was the epitome of hard-nosed Australia in the eyes of many players. Hayden was too happy to wear this label. But anyhow, closer inspection revealed a warmer nature.

He is of the opinion that in the company of team mates, Matthew Hayden commanded affection; opponents felt only fear and, occasionally, resentment. Hayden began the game later than his contemporaries and always wanted to

last longer than them. With a strong mind and body,

He hoped to play another Ashes series this year. He wanted to score more hundreds, to end in a blaze. Roebuck said this in his article written for a magazine. Throughout 2008, the left hand batsman was looking out of sorts. He was a player past his time searching for his path. It all happened so quickly.

Roebuck says that in the season 2007-08, he was the powerhouse of the batting. With in year he seemed too old for the company he was keeping. He eagerly was waiting for another revival, but this time the root cause was not technical but mental. He then had the mental signal that it is all over now.

Roebuck is of the opinion that Hayden’s contribution to Australia and world cricket has been nothing short of extraordinary. He had several false starts as he tried to adjust his game to Test cricket. He finds Hayden to be a secretly sensitive man; he felt uncomfortable in the teams led by Mark Taylor and always tried to make the right impression, which did not work. It was under Steve Waugh that his confidence came back and found permanent berth in the team.

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The former New Zealand pace bowler Sir Richard John Hadlee was born on 3 July 1951. Sir Hadlee, who was once the leading wicket taker in Test cricket has played club and provincial cricket for Canterbury, Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club and Tasmania.

Born as the son of Walter Hadlee, he is regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers and all-rounders of all time. Sir Hadlee played 86-Tests for New Zealand and took n 431 wickets, which was once a world record. He was the first bowler to pass 400 wickets, with an average of 22.29, and made 3124 Test runs at 27.16, including two centuries and 15 fifties. According to many cricket experts, Hadlee is the greatest

exponent of bowling with the new ball. He was the master of (conventional) swing and was the original Sultan of Swing. Malcolm “Macko” Marshallhas said that Sir Richard was the finest fast bowler of his time.

Hadlee was born in Christchurch and made his first class debut for Canterbury in 1971/72. He made his debut in test cricket in 1973. The England tour in 1983 was one of the biggest turning point in the career of Hadlee. New Zealand registered their first ever test win on English soil, at Headingley, with the remarkable performance of Hadlee.

In the season1985-86, Richard Hadlee developed from a very good fast bowler to a truly great one with a couple of massiv performances. He made his career best of 9 for 52 in Brisbane in this season. Hadlee became the first bowler to surpass 400 wickets in 1989-90 against India when he dismissed Sanjay Manjrekar. Hadlee was knighted by the British Queen on 4 October 1990,[3] some months after his last test match on 10 July 1990. Hadlee was also a middle order aggressive batsman who had hit two centuries in his career.

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