Hayden earns comparisons with Bradman

Comparisons with Don Bradman do not sit easily with any Australian cricketer but Matthew Hayden is having to get used to them after scoring a flood of runs that shows no signs of stopping.

The left-handed opener joined an elite group of just seven players on Sunday when he made two centuries in an Ashes Test, following up his first innings 197 with 103 in the second knock.

Bradman is not among that elite group but tops just about every other batting list and Hayden's golden run of form has been likened to the late Bradman's feats.

Hayden has now scored seven centuries from his last 10 Tests, a feat unmatched by any other Australian batsman apart from Bradman, whose best run was nine hundreds in 12 matches.

Neil Harvey once scored six tons in eight Tests and Jack Fingleton and Doug Walters both hit four from four, but Hayden's seven from 10 is second best overall.

Australian captain Steve Waugh was so impressed that he said he had never seen a player in better form that Hayden -- high praise indeed for a man who has scored 28 Test centuries, one short of Bradman's Australian record.

"I've been a big fan of his for a long time. He's an outstanding player," Waugh said.

"The way he scores so quickly for an opener is pretty unusual and he's not afraid to go after any bowler. Long may he play the way he's playing at the moment."

"He'll have a downtime at some stage so he's just got to cash in while he's playing well.

"The key to playing at this level is to not waste good form and he's not doing that at the moment."

TEST DEBUT

Hayden's brilliant run of form is all the more remarkable considering his long battle just to cement a place in the Test side.

He made his Test debut in 1994, scoring 15 and 5 against South Africa in Johannesburg, but did not play again for almost two years.

He made a century against West Indies in his second match back in 1997 but was dropped after three more games and did not get another chance for three more years.

Hayden has not looked back since being given a third chance in March 2000, scoring 2,639 runs in 27 Tests at an average of 62.83 and lifting his overall average to 53.70.

In that time he has scored 10 centuries, including a career-high 203 against India and four in successive Tests against South Africa.

He broke Bob Simpson's long-standing record for the most Test runs by an Australian in a calendar year when he piled on 1,391 in 2001 and won the Allan Border Medal as Australia's player of the year for 2001-02.

He has shared in four double-century partnerships with Justin Langer, a record they share with West Indian greats Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes, but few achievements gave him more satisfaction than scoring twin centuries at the Gabba in his home city of Brisbane.

"It was great to get a hundred in front of your home crowd but, to get two, what more icing can you put on a cake?" Hayden said.

"This crowd has been parochial and supported me for well over a decade when there were all sorts of flags flying like 'give Matt a bat'.

"It was a great honour and a great privilege to be playing that Test match in front of them."

A broad-shouldered batsman, Hayden is one of the fittest players in the world but says it is his new-found self-belief and mental strength that have turned him into a run-making machine.

"If you haven't got a mental game plan in place, you've got nothing no matter how skilled or how well prepared you are," the 31-year-old Hayden said.

"The last 12 months of my career I've taken on a new level of mental preparation. To be able to rest between games has been a huge plus for me."

Mail Cricket Editor