Matthew Hayden
While it is a high trend to see a great batsman leading a national team, former Australian opener Matthew Hayden hadn’t that similar luck in his entire international career. The left-handed opening batsman was one of the most successful batsmen in Australian cricket history as he is the most run-scorer as an Australian opener in international cricket history (14825 runs) and also seventh-most international run-scorer as an Aussie batsman.
If we see the top 10 most international run-scorers for Australia, Hayden is among few of these cricketers who never led the Australian team in international cricket history.
Hayden successfully served for Australia between 1993 and 2009, where the left-handed batsman scored 8625 runs in 103 Tests (average 50.73), 6133 runs in 161 ODIs (average 43.80) and 308 runs in nine T20Is (average 51.33). During his international career, Hayden hit 40 centuries (30 Test centuries and 10 ODI centuries) and 69 half-centuries (29 Test fifties, 36 ODI fifties and four T20I fifties).
In October 2003, Hayden also recorded the highest individual knock in a Test inning, which was 380 runs against Zimbabwe at Perth. However, in April 2004, the Caribbean legend regained that record by becoming the first Test batsman to score 400 runs in an innings (400 not out against England at St John’s).
Hayden also played the crucial roles for Australia’s winning the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 and 2007 trophies, while he also finished as the leading run-scorer in the 2007 edition. However, he never experienced the captaincy for the Australian team.