Simple Symonds, now Humble Hayden

Matthew Hayden is suffering from the worst thing that can happen to a batsman - bad timing. He forgot that there won't be another IPL auction in a hurry, so there is no way his tag is going to go up any further. He should have fought Harbhajan Singh before the auction. All he will get is some pathetic pocket money from this Brisbane radio station.

First there was Simple Symonds, now there is Humble Hayden. Personally, I'll take the former any day, though that does not mean he is such a great choice. He is just a better choice.

Andrew Symonds at least acts on impulse, at the spur of the moment. Hayden is a different kettle of fish altogether. He has been the instigator behind this whole Symonds-Harbhajan saga, and ole Haydos is seething that Bhajji got away, despite all the Aussie plans. Hayden was always out to cook up some trouble - he is quite an accomplished chef we know.

It all boils down to how the Indian are reacting to losing everything, our pal Hayden says. He forgets that Indian does not lose everything. In fact, no Australian cricketer will be able to live down the fact that not once, but twice, they have come within touching distance of recording 17 consecutive Test wins, only to be denied by India.

But Hayden forgot that. Comes with age I guess, memory loss, hair loss, form loss.

The problem is that the Aussie cricketer - an affable, jovial fellow, so long as you don't challenge his superiority, is not equipped to handle a contest, least of all a mental one. Hayden was one of the architects of the monkey issue, and the whole cricket structure has not been able to accept that the Indians got away, and by contrast the Aussies got some flak.

So every time one of these players opens his mouth, apart from the smart ones like Brett Lee, something unsavoury always seems to pop out. A result of too much bile and undigested stuff. Very avoidable.

Our friend Hayden also made another funny observation. He is telling young Ishant Sharma to worry about his bowling, which is rich, since its time for the Aussies to worry about how the lad bowls.

But on a serious note, it is really sad that cricket cannot be played without this kind of nonsense. One fact is that it always starts somewhere else. Even if Symonds was saying "well bowled" to Ishant, we have come to expect only sledging and abuse from the Australian team, so Ishant reacted accordingly.

Doesn't do much for the image of the team does it? But it really doesn't matter, since it seems the more aggressive and abusive you get, the more you get paid, in dollars.

Only, you need to know when to start abusing.