Hayden the bananabender
Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald Peter Roebuck dwells on the coming together of the old firm - Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist - and their effect on the opposition.
Sriram Veera
25-Feb-2013
Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald Peter Roebuck dwells on the coming together of the old firm - Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist - and their effect on the opposition.
Others might favour playing the ball late and other subtleties, but the bananabender strives to dictate from the outset. It was the approach adopted by the likes of Colin Milburn and Charlie Macartney, a gentleman inclined to crack the ball back at the opening bowler's head at the earliest opportunity. Hayden was soon into his work, driving past the bowler with a restraint that belied the potency of his stroke. Already he was stepping forwards in a manner calculated to make Chaminda Vaas regret his loss of pace.
... Gilchrist took his time against some demanding pace bowling and alert fielding. Not that he dawdled. A bloke called David Hemery used to teach in England. In the 1968 Olympics he won a gold medal in the 400m hurdles. Anyone wanting to talk to him on the move had to break into a trot while the medallist was, by his estimation, walking. Gilchrist is like that. His idea of pottering along is to take only one risk an over.
Sriram Veera is a former staff writer at ESPNcricinfo