Watches this Australia's sledging all bluff, players actors with roles, Matthew Hayden says in Standing My Ground

Australia's sledging all bluff, players actors with roles, Matthew Hayden says in Standing My Ground


Matthew Hayden has confessed the stunning secret of how Australia's cricketers became world champion sledgers, saying it was all a giant bluff.

In his new book, Standing My Ground, launched on Sunday, the Australia Test great reveals how the great Australian team often conned their rivals into running scared with fierce verbal intimidation.

"It was as if we had all the answers," he says.

"We didn't.

"We just never let anyone know that we didn't.

"As a consequence, we often saw the mental disintegration of players and teams happening before our eyes.

"Sometimes we annihilated teams who should have performed far better than they did, simply because they were beaten in the battle for mental supremacy, often before the match began."



Hayden, 38, was part of a champion Australia team, including fellow greats Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist and Glenn McGrath, that created a hard-nosed aura and appeared almost unbeatable.

But Hayden has revealed that all was not quite as it seemed, with various players performing roles, almost like actors.

"Our intimidation of other teams was very much a collective effort, with players filling a range of unspoken yet clearly defined roles," Hayden says.

"Damien Martyn would never have dreamt of putting serious verbal heat on someone, partly because he would have struggled with the retaliation.

"But he still had a clear role to swagger around as if he thought the opposition were schoolboys.

"I tried to be subtle with my chirps, sometimes walking in the opposite direction as I spoke or covering my mouth.

"I always felt I was a bit of a hitman for the boys, and if I had to take on Brian Lara or Sachin Tendulkar, I would.

"Being a big bloke was important, but equally important was that I was prepared to cop the return fire and still perform. If I was the man to rattle someone's cage, I could do it with relish.
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