Game over for Hayden?

Matthew Hayden endured agonies during his brief and unconvincing stint at the WACA Ground. Desperately needing to produce a convincing innings to rid his mind of doubt and secure his place for the next few matches, he searched for his game and returned empty handed, says Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Often the veteran opener seemed to be beaten for pace as the speedsters bent their backs. Wisely, the tourists did not give him opportunities to move back to assess the delivery. Throughout they harried and hurried him, snapping at his heels like a pesky terrier. In his best years Hayden always had time to play his strokes. Only in his youth did he look stiff and slow and then observers concluded that he lacked the speed of wit and foot to score heavily in this company. It was a mistaken diagnosis. Then Hayden was petrified into inactivity. Perhaps history is repeating itself.

In the Australian Mike Coward writes it was much too easy to look away from Hayden on the third day. Robert Craddock also covers Hayden’s plight in the Courier-Mail.