Cricket: Hayden raring to go in Wellington

Matthew Hayden reflects on a summer of mixed emotions. Picture / Fotopress

A shoulder injury, a run drought and even a bout of pleurisy have given Australian opening batsman Matthew Hayden plenty of reasons to bemoan a wretched summer.

But entering the second Test at the Basin Reserve tomorrow, he feels as hungry as when he was pushing his way back into the Australia side five years ago.

Despite being put under intense scrutiny this season, careers ebbed and flowed, he said, and he had enjoyed the extra challenge.

"I've heard all sorts of things in the last 12 months. It wasn't an easy summer," Hayden told the Brisbane newspaper, The Courier-Mail. "When you first start, you're battling to get in the side and I still feel I'm maybe at that stage. But that's not a bad marker to have because it makes you feel sharp and hungry.

"But no matter what mental or physical state I'm in, I really do try hard when I'm playing cricket."

Hayden could have sat out the first Test last week, when he made 35 and 15, but he was desperate not to give up his place, and a solid training regime has him in better shape for tomorrow's second Test at Wellington.

"It's a case of not cutting a sucker an even break," he said. "I wouldn't have been capable of playing a one-day game a few weeks ago, but Test cricket is a little different. I just want to play."

Hayden has doubled the time spent in the nets by his teammates, but his shoulder injury will still affect his fielding, which was obviously hampered at Christchurch.

"The last time in New Zealand [in 1999-2000] it was a waiting game and it hasn't been dissimilar to this trip," he said. "I've played pretty well and then I've been hanging back and waiting to go."

* The weather forecast for Wellington is not bright, with rain and winds expected over the next few days.

- CRICINFO, additional reporting by Herald Online staff