Continuity was the key to Hayden's top-order reign
Much more than the sum of his parts, Matthew Hayden relied on relationships with his team-mates, writes Gideon Haigh in the Guardian .
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
Much more than the sum of his parts, Matthew Hayden relied on relationships with his team-mates, writes Gideon Haigh in the Guardian.
More than most players, I suspect, Hayden benefited from continuity, not just of his own selection but of others. During his peak of proficiency, he paired up with Justin Langer; they became as familiar and inseparable as a pirate and his parrot. It's a factor in matters of team composition that selectors would do well to heed: a player is not just a sum of his abilities, but also his relationships with comrades. And no cricketer is so dependent on another as an opening batsman on his partner.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo