Matthew Hayden has launched a blistering attack on Australia’s batting and their specialist coach in the wake of their four-wicket defeat inside two days at the MCG.
The former Aussie opener was marching down the wicket with his criticism on the All Over Bar The Cricket podcast, taking aim at batting coach Michael Di Venuto.
Hayden said that batters in the national team seem to go through extended form slumps and are not being corrected quickly enough when they have technical flaws.
He pointed to Marnus Labuschagne continually fishing in “a no-go zone” outside off stump and said allrounder Cameron Green is “not getting technical advice for a player of his standard”.
“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 when asked about the totals of 152 and 132 by the Aussies in Melbourne.
“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?”
Hayden admitted he was “not a fan” of Di Venuto and called for a fresh face to be added to the coaching set-up.
“The faceless man in this cricket team is always an issue. Michael Di Venuto has been there at least five years.
“Assuming we’re going to have on scale change in our batting line-up, we’re going to have generational change. We need some generationally different voices in that mentality of how you play.
“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.
Australia’s Jake Weatherald is bowled by England’s Ben Stokes. (AP Photo/Hamish Blair)
“As much as I like Diva, I feel like there has to be some change, because I don’t want to be sitting here on this podcast in two years going ‘well we’ve got all these technical difficulties’.
“At some point, you have to take accountability. That’s the piece I really struggle with the most.
“It’s like ‘it’s green, therefore we’re going to play a certain way’. Or ‘it’s spinning’, I remember in Delhi a couple of series ago, every player was sweeping on a wicket that wasn’t turning an inch.”
Travis Head, who has been the leading run-scorer in the Ashes after smashing two centuries at the top of the order, is set to bypass the rest of the BBL after Sunday’s fifth Test in Sydney.
The 32-year-old left-hander told NewsCorp that he was “emotionally drained” after a gruelling 2025 campaign and with two World Cups and 20-plus Tests over the next two years on top of IPL commitments, he was keen to get a chance to recharge his batteries instead of turning out for Adelaide Strikers.
Travis Head. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)
He will spearhed Australia’s T20 World Cup tilt in India and Sri Lanka in February, immediately after the BBL finishes.
“Probably unlikely with the emotional drain of an Ashes series, and what’s coming up in terms of the World Cup. Don’t know the exact dates yet. It’s not 100 per cent,” Head said.
“You go into every series wanting to have a good contribution. I felt like I’ve been close to that and played really well.
“And the emotional drain of actually being in an Ashes series and playing it’s always tough. So I think it’s important to go into a World Cup fresh, but we’ll see where get to though.”
The Roarhttps://www.theroar.com.au/2025/12/31/all-at-sea-with-basic-techniques-hayden-slams-batting-coach-as-aussie-star-takes-break-amid-burnout-fears/‘All at sea with basic techniques’: Hayden slams batting coach as Aussie star takes break amid burnout fears
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