Mr Matthew Hayden AM

Matthew Hayden AM is Queensland cricket’s greatest home grown batsman and ranks among world cricket’s greatest performers. A power-hitting left-hander from Kingaroy, he was a colossus at the wicket whose record over 15 years is similarly huge.

He is the only player to play 100 first-class matches for Queensland and 100 Test matches for Australia. At the time of his Test retirement in 2009 he ranked 4th in all-time runs for his country and boasted the highest Test score by an Australian.

His 380 against Zimbabwe in 2003 still ranks second highest in the game’s history, and he still ranks second all-time in Test runs by an opening batsman. And all that after he was dropped seven Test matches into his career and spent three years in the international wilderness.

Individual records and honors were countless, among them the Allan Border Medal in 2002, the Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2003, and the ICC World Cup ODI Player of the Year in 2007.

He was as proud in the maroon cap of Queensland as he was in the baggy green of Australia, and was a key member of the never-to-be-forgotten Queensland team that won our first Sheffield Shield in 1995. He answers to Matt the Bat, the Unit or simply Haydos.