I did think twice over Hayden as he certainly had flat track tendencies. In fact on a pitch with no seam or swing you'd pick him as an opener in an all time XI.
What swayed me was his stunning 2001 series in India. Perhaps I'm giving that one series far too much weight. But he was absolutely awesome against Harbhajan when all else floundered for the most part.
It's rare for an Aussie batsman to play spin so well. Maybe that's why he stands out. He'd be the best Aussie batsman vs spin I've seen except for Boof Lehmann.
One of my biggest lols from cricket was watching Matthew Hayden face Wasim Akram, Curtly Ambrose, Shoib Akhtar, Courtney Walsh and the like on seaming wickets. The first day of a Gabba Test was always a greentop and would swing like buggery. Mark Taylor and Michael Slater played the bulk of their career facing these guys on seaming wickets and did an outstanding job every time. Whenever the selectors would pick Hayden over Slater (due to Hayden scoring shitloads of runs on flat tracks in shield cricket) it was absolutely comical watching the guy getting beaten all ends up, every ball. The selectors then had to rush back Slater quick smart.
It's no coincidence the rise of Hayden and Langer as an opening pair was due solely to the greenkeepers preparing roads for Test matches instead of greentops. Taylor and Slater were far superior as openers in my humble opinion, and there's absolutely no way you could convince me otherwise.
The preparation of roads continue to this day, hence why the aussie cricket team sucks arse whenever they play on a seaming or spinning wicket, they have no clue. England are the number one cricket team atm by a long way, but Pakistan will make a big play, for the number one spot, very soon.
