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“Not a fan”: Hayden calls for Aussie coach to be axed
SEN • January 1st, 2026 12:46 pm
Australian cricket legend Matthew Hayden has called for the axing of Aussie batting coach Michael Di Venuto.
Di Venuto has been Australia’s batting coach since mid-2021, and Hayden hasn’t seen any improvement in the side’s top order under his watch.
After watching Australia score 152 and 132 on a hard batting wicket in Melbourne, Hayden called out the side’s lack of skills in difficult conditions, with the technical side of the Aussie batting clearly lacking in his view.
After almost five years in the role, he thinks that’s something Di Venuto must be accountable for.
“That’s an unacceptable scorecard. I don’t care if it was 50 millimetres of grass. You need to be better than that,” Hayden said on the All Over Bar The Cricket podcast.
“Head, Weatherald, Labuschagne, Khawaja, Carey, Green; they’re all at sea with their basic techniques. The only technical thing I see is coming from our bowlers, who look more technically sound than our batters. Why is that?”
“The faceless men in this cricket team is always an issue.
“Michael Di Venuto has been there for at least five years ... we need some generationally different voices that sit in that mentality of how you play.
“I’m not a fan of him. It’s not a personal thing, I just think, for too long, there has been an influence in this group around batting, and I don’t feel it’s served either the development of the team or the technical element of Test match cricket.
“And it’s not just on green wickets — it’s also in countries like the subcontinent, where we’ve been competitive but ultimately haven’t had the skill sets required to really cope in those conditions.”
While Hayden admitted he likes ‘Diva’ personally, he feels there must be a change as he can’t see the shortcomings being improved under his watch.
“As much as I like ‘Diva’, I feel like there has to be some change, because I don’t want to be sitting here on this podcast in two years going, ‘Well we’ve got all these technical difficulties’,” Hayden added.
“At some point, you have to take accountability. That’s the piece I really struggle with the most. It’s like, ‘Yep, it’s green, therefore we’re going to play a certain way’. Or, ‘It’s spinning’ (as it did in) Delhi a couple of series ago. Every player was sweeping on a wicket that wasn’t turning an inch.”
Australia will hope to improve in their batting when they meet England in the fifth and final Ashes Test at the SCG beginning on January 4.
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