Australia's legendary opener Matthew Hayden did not hold back in his criticism of batting coach and former Australian batter Michael di Venuto after the Boxing Day Test debacle. While the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) pitch curator has been copping criticism for leaving extra grass on the surface, Hayden feels that the basic techniques of the Australian batters have been way below par.
“That’s an unacceptable scorecard. I don’t care if it was 50 millimetres of grass. You need to be better than that,” Hayden said on the All Over Bar The Cricket podcast. “Head, Weatherald, Labuschagne, Khawaja, Carey, Green; they’re all at sea with their basic techniques. The only technical thing I see is coming from our bowlers, who look more technically sound than our batters. Why is that?”
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Di Venuto never got to make his Test debut as he was born in the era of Ricky Ponting. Made his debut in 1991/92 season, Di Venuto played for two decades. He massed 25,200 runs from 336 games at an average of 45.90, including 60 centuries and 146 fifties. He didn't get the baggy green but played nine ODIs in 1997, scoring 241 runs including two fifties before getting dropped.
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Why Hayden wants Di Venuto gone?
Despite Di Venuto’s stellar record in red-ball cricket, Hayden wants the batting coach to be sacked. He feels that the Australian batters haven’t just struggled on green wickets but in subcontinent conditions as well.
“I’m not a fan of him. It’s not a personal thing. I just think for too long there has been an influence in this group around batting, and I don’t feel it’s served the development of the team or the technical element of Test cricket. Not just on green wickets but in the subcontinent, where we’ve been competitive but haven’t had the skill sets required to cope in those conditions,” he opined.
“At some point, you have to take accountability. That’s the piece I really struggle with the most. It’s like, ‘Yep, it’s green, therefore we’re going to play a certain way’. Or, ‘It’s spinning’ [like in] Delhi a couple of series ago. Every player was sweeping on a wicket that wasn’t turning an inch,” he added.
Labuschagne, Green criticised too
Hayden namedropped Ponting while criticising underperforming Marnus Labuschagne and Cameron Green. While Labuschagne scored a half-century each in first two Tests, Green is struggling for a fifty in the series.
“You didn’t see Ricky Ponting batting at three, like Marnus Labuschagne is, throwing his wicket away. There is no fricken chance because … you would have your teammates and your former generation of players saying, ‘Bud, this is not the way we play cricket’,” the 54-year-old said.
Labuschagne copped criticism from head coach Andrew McDonald too for going into a shell. Both of them will have a chance to regain form in red-ball cricket in the fifth and final Test of Ashes 2025-26 at Sydney Cricket Ground.