da realbet： Australian batsman Matthew Hayden hopes to feast on his favourite dishin Trinidad this weekend when the West Indies send a little-knownAnguillan off-spinner into his first cricket Test.
AAP26-Jul-2005Australian batsman Matthew Hayden hopes to feast on his favourite dishin Trinidad this weekend when the West Indies send a little-knownAnguillan off-spinner into his first cricket Test.Omari Banks, from the tiny Leeward Island, will walk into a trap ifHayden unloads the punishment that has floored some of the world’s bestspinners in the second Test at Queen’s Park Oval from Saturday.Hayden is due for a century, by his lofty standards, because he hasn’treached triple figures in his past five Test innings.The Queenslander is second only to Don Bradman on the list ofAustralia’s most frequent century-makers in Tests, with a ton aboutevery five knocks and a Test average of 50.40.Hayden expects his average to increase if he faces more spin this seriesafter the Windies relied on four quicks in last week’s nine-wicket lossto Australia in the first Test.”It’s going to come, but I think it’s going to come a little bitdifferently for me this time. I am looking to just bat length of timethroughout the Test matches here,” he said.”Getting to face spin I think that’s going to be huge, that’s going toultimately reveal some massive scoring opportunities for me throughoutthe series.”I kind of missed the boat in some ways not really facing (two part-timespinners). I don’t think they have got a real quality spinner in theirside.”But Hayden and the Australians were impressed by Banks when the lanky20-year-old claimed three wickets for the Guyana Board President’s XI inthe opening tour match in Georgetown two weeks ago.Hayden was satisfied with his batting in that match but not as happywith his innings of 10 and 19 in the first Test.He lost his ranking as the world’s best Test batsman this week toEngland’s Michael Vaughan, but the laid-back Hayden was hardly bothered.The merits of the ranking system are debatable and Hayden remembers thatAustralian team-mate Adam Gilchrist jumped into top spot last year afternot playing a match in one ranking period.”It shows the fickle nature of our sport and of this particular rankingsystem as well,” Hayden said.”It’s a nice tag to have, the number one ranking, and I think it’ssomething to aspire to as well. It’s now a battle to get it back againand I am sure it will be pretty close.”But it’s not something I play the game for. My passions are ourpartnerships and the way we demonstrate in playing for Australia.”Australian selectors are yet to decide whether to stick with the rarecombination of five specialist bowlers after the experiment worked inGeorgetown.The wicket at Queen’s Park Oval, with a greater covering of grass, maysway selectors but there was some speculation today among the team thatthe beefed-up attack may remain.