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 | |  Friday, 28 December, 2001, 12:23 GMT Aussie ace thanks Simpson  Another century in the books Former Australian captain and coach Bobby Simpson wasted no time in offering his congratulations to Matthew Hayden after the opening batsman erased one of his feats from the record books. Hayden's 138 on the third day of the second Test against South Africa at Melbourne carried him past Simpson's Australian record of 1,361 Test runs in a calendar year. "There's a great deal or irony in that, because Bob Simpson is a person who has helped me out enormously in my cricket in many ways. "He rang me in the changing rooms tonight which I think is a terrific effort and something I'll remember fondly," said Hayden. The left-hander had reached 1,388 by the time he was dismissed, putting him joint third on the all-time list behind Viv Richards (1,710) and Sunil Gavskar (1,555). But he will have the chance to take outright third place from India's Gundappa Viswanath unless Australia can complete an innings victory. The sweep shot has been a big part of Hayden's success this year, notably in India where he scored 549 runs in six innings.
And he revealed that Simpson had taught him three different versions of the stroke during a coaching session in 1993. Hayden is, however, more concerned with Australia achieveing a series-winning victory, rather than pewrsonal records. "We are 210 runs in front, which is a very dominant position after a tough day of cricket," he said. "Hopefully our last wicket partnership is still a vital cog. We saw their tail wag and get 40-odd. "I would hope we would get at least that and that would put us 250 ahead and we would then have the task of bowling them out again." | |
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