Graham Thorpe

Graham Thorpe

Jaques can fill Hayden's boots

Wed Jan 14 02:06PM

Bring on Harmison and Flintoff!

I was not surprised to hear of Matthew Hayden's retirement from all forms of cricket.

In his last couple of Test series for Australia he has struggled for form and been on the wrong end of two painful defeats - against India and South Africa.

Hayden's retirement clearly has implications for the Ashes, but funnily enough his record with the bat in England is not that good.

He averaged just 34.5 in his 10 Tests on our shores, compared to a career average of 50.73 from 103 Test matches.

He was a great player of fast bowling, but it was his presence that made him stand out. Fortunately for Australia they have a player waiting in the wings who can confidently fill his boots - namely Phil Jaques.

I worked closely with Jaques during my time coaching in Australia and he's a superb talent who has experience of playing in England and is the firm favourite to replace Hayden and open the batting for Australia in the summer.

Another player I have worked with, Simon Katich, will likely partner Jaques at the top of the order and I can see those two forming a good pairing to take on England's attack in the Ashes.

Australia are in a major rebuilding phase right now. Hayden has the become the eighth member of the side that contested the Ashes in 2005 to announce his retirement and England will welcome a much-changed team this time around.

But they have a tour to the West Indies to negotiate first and in my next blog I'll be talking about candidates to fill the vacant role as England coach. 

- - -

Work is well under way at Surrey as I begin my new role as batting coach at The Oval. The players are back in the nets and everything is going really well so far.

Everybody is in good shape and I'm really enjoying it and thankfully the days of players coming back from the winter break carrying an extra stone are long gone.

 

  • Comments1 - 12 of 12

  1. In relation to the above article, to be honest, I feel that Australia will once again be too strong for England, Australia will find replacements for the ones that have retired, and come back stronger.

    Stevehaw78.

    stevehaw78From stevehaw78 on Wed Jan 14 03:08PM

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  2. cooooool guy....
    does he still hook up with those ta ll beauties on the ta ll da ting site ____T a ll Min gle Co M____ ???The last time I saw his profile is last monday, hope he does not leave.

    bigtall008From bigtall008 on Wed Jan 14 04:09PM

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  3. Thank you Matthew Hayden for the pleasure you have given the cricket loving people

    achunkyjonesFrom achunkyjones on Wed Jan 14 05:08PM

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  4. Hi, I'm an open minded girl from US, I'm interested in exotic things, photography, dating and sports...I have my photos on --- Tallhub Co m ---, I love tall guys!
    Do you love traveling and have some experience? Just find me out.

    roboalen08From roboalen08 on Wed Jan 14 05:47PM

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  5. I agree, chunky. A superb batsman - frighteningly so on his day!!

    peterjheadFrom peterjhead on Wed Jan 14 05:54PM

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  6. I agree, Chunky. A superb batsman - frighteningly so on his day.

    peterjheadFrom peterjhead on Wed Jan 14 05:55PM

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  7. Phil Jaques was AWESOME in his short time at Worcester.
    If he hits form, England can forget the Ashes.

    stephenjones272From stephenjones272 on Wed Jan 14 06:50PM

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  8. Look at your Engilsh Primary School Curriculum for cricket ---- their's your problem!!!

    slivatreeFrom slivatree on Wed Jan 14 07:22PM

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  9. Well. That's wonderful!!! It has been confirmed that mixedracial relationship is very fashionable now, more and more single people are searching for mixedracial love....there is a big storm of
    "sign up" on the famous mixedracial dating community
    ****mixed loving .[ 0 m*****

    selinamishFrom selinamish on Thu Jan 15 12:22PM

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  10. he was a legend and will be hard to replace like gilchrist

    ryan3mandyFrom ryan3mandy on Thu Jan 15 02:24PM

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  11. Well.well That's wonderful!!! It has been confirmed that mixedracial relationship is very fashionable now, more and more single people are searching for mixedracial love....Black man for white lady and white man for chocolate girl ..there is a big storm of
    "sign up" on the famous mixedracial dating community
    ****mixed loving .[ 0 m*****

    yasiryang3From yasiryang3 on Fri Jan 16 09:35AM

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  12. He is professional,His photos were seen @ milllionaire persoanals place ___searchingMillionaire,coM__recently.

    huangsammy000From huangsammy000 on Fri Jan 16 03:51PM

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