Robert Craddock in the Courier-Mail writes that Matthew Hayden, who has retired, will go down as Australia's greatest Test opener.

When Australia's team of the century was announced in January, 2000, Hayden wasn't even in the Test side and had played a handful of unproductive matches over six frustrating years.

But his Test record gives him the right to be crowned Australia's greatest opener ahead of team of the century choices Bill Ponsford and Arthur Morris. He was also, by a subtantial margin, Queensland's finest home grown batsmen.

Mike Coward in the Australian will remember Hayden as a powerful figure at the crease.

He didn't merely take the shine off the ball. He imposed his will on the bowling dictating the tone and tempo of an innings. He called the shots; set the agenda and established the foundations upon which much of Australia's success was built throughout the 2000s. On song he was capable of changing the course of a match, indeed, a series.

In the Herald Sun, Ron Reed looks back on Hayden's inauspicious debut.