'I've probably never been fitter' - Hayden

These are strange days for Mathew hayden. Three months removed from calling time on his international career - an announcement he had hoped to stave off until after the 2009 Ashes, but expedited due to an extended scoring trough - Hayden now finds himself preparing to return to a game with which he is still making his peace, and a league that contributed to his premature departure from the Australian team.

Hayden speaks glowingly of his experiences in the inaugural IPL, but there can be little doubt that the Achilles injury sustained during his four-game stint with the Chennai Super Kings last year marked the beginning of the end of his international career. It was that ailment that sidelined him from the ensuing tour of the West Indies, and thwarted the momentum he had built since The Oval Test of 2005. It was that ailment that prompted the chain of events culminating in a tearful farewell press conference after the Sydney Test.

Hayden has said a thousand goodbyes and done many a lap of honour in the intervening period, only to find himself poised for a return to the middle. The pain of his departure from international cricket might not have entirely subsided - "It's hard to watch a game you still want to be involved in" - but he is nonetheless buoyant at the prospect of again turning out for the Super Kings, for whom he bludgeoned 189 runs at 63.00 last year.

"The players really feel they are part of a revolution in cricket - the way that it is played, the way it's packaged, and the spectators who are watching it," Hayden told Cricinfo. "For someone like me, who has been in the game a long time, it blows me away what Twenty20 cricket has done, and is doing, to the sport.

"[Last season] was unfortunate. I picked up that [Achilles] injury doing a running session because I wanted to be spot on for that West Indies tour. I came back [from the IPL] on a real high, not realising how bad the injury was. It didn't feel all that serious, and I wasn't expecting to miss any games let along an entire Test series, so it wasn't until later that I realised what I was actually dealing with. But I don't look back on [the inaugural IPL] as a negative. If anything I found that really reinvigorated me and revived my enthusiasm, because you could feel you were a part of taking cricket to another level."

Had the Super Kings management harboured concerns for Hayden's physical condition post-retirement, they were placated within moments of the 37-year-old's arrival in India for a pre-IPL training camp. Hayden has spent much of the past three months immersed in one of his favourite training pursuits - surfing - and believes he is in better physical condition than at most stages of his international career.

KwaZulu-Natal beachgoers have been treated this week to the sight of a trim and toned Hayden surfing the Durban breaks with his one-time opponent, Jonty Rhodes. But the Australian batsman has also found plenty time to hit the nets, where he has found that the months away from the game have done little to erode his technique.

"Skills-wise, I've had a week and a half in India and hit a million balls, so in that regard I'm up and running," Hayden said. "But in terms of actually playing, I haven't picked up a bat since my final Test in Sydney, so it will be interesting to be back out there competing again. It has felt quite good so far.

"I've probably never been fitter. I've done a stack of surfing in the last few months and, as ridiculous as it sounds, it's probably the best kind of fitness work a batsman can do. It's all about core strength, balance and stability. Fitness was probably the one thing you couldn't get to all that much when you were playing all the time. It was sort of game-recover-travel, game-recover-travel."

Had Twenty20 cricket arrived on the scene earlier in his career, Hayden is certain he would have taken the David Warner route and tailored his game to meet the format's specific demands. Indeed, Hayden took with him a "Twenty20 mindset" into the 2007 World Cup - a tournament he dominated to the tune of 659 runs at 73.22 - and was similarly dominant in his four games for Chennai last season. It is a format, he says, to which he is well suited, even at an advanced age.

"The World Cup for me was pretty much as good as it got, and that was about me basically going out there and striking the ball; trying to thump it as you would in a 20-over game," he said. "I wasn't so much worried about building innings or protecting my wicket. I was looking for boundaries, and it really took my game to another level. It's something I see in Warner. He turned the cricketing nation on its ear because he could strike a serious ball. He had everyone talking, and shows just how the game is changing.

"It's amazing to see the momentum of Twenty20. At first, it was considered quite a light-hearted thing and even now, in Australia, it's presented in a way where players are miked up and it's more about the entertainment. But I think it's changing elsewhere. Players are working more on how to develop their skills to be successful in Twenty20 cricket, which is the ultimate spectacle, and leaving the singing and jazzing about to others."

McGrath defies odds to play in IPL

Glenn McGrath is in his 40th year. He is a man raising two children and, with a little help from his friends, running a major charity organisation founded by his wife, Jane, who passed away last year after a long battle with cancer.

Clearly, McGrath is a man with much on his plate and more on his mind. And yet, in the coming weeks, he will add to his many commitments by pushing his frame through five gruelling weeks of competition with the Delhi Daredevils in the IPL. It is, by any estimate, a massive ask, and even more so when it is considered McGrath has not sent down a delivery in international cricket since the 2007 World Cup final.

With his day-to-day activities largely focussed on a non-profit organisation, the opportunity to earn for his family - his auction price was $US350,000 - serves as a major motivation for McGrath as he enters his second IPL season. But this is no charity case. Last year, while contending with much heartache at home, the Australian paceman earned his pay cheque by emerging as the most economical (6.61) and durable (14 games) of Delhi's bowlers. McGrath believes more is to come this time around.

"I struggled a bit last year, but that was more about Jane and how the situation was back home," McGrath told Cricinfo. "That won't be a concern this time. Mum may bring the kids over for the middle period, depending on the schedule. My whole focus will be a lot different when I'm there, which I think will all be positive. Last time I think I did reasonably well considering I hadn't played for 12 months. I have no doubts it will be similar this time, but my mindset will be different.

"There is a lot of incentive going over there with the money they're offering. Cricket is not something that I have a great desire to get back and play at the moment. I'm very happy being retired and with everything that I achieved in my life. In saying that, as soon as I got on the field in India (in 2008), I couldn't help being competitive. My natural instincts came out and I was away. That won't be an issue.

"Last year I did a heap of fitness work leading into it, and when I bowled in the nets for half a session I felt like I hadn't ever been away from the game. When I played that Twenty20 match earlier on in the year for New South Wales, and I hadn't done any work leading into it, it felt like I had never bowled before in my life. So basically if I'm fit my bowling will come back really quickly, and if I'm not fit I'm useless."

McGrath will arrive in Delhi the coming days for the Daredevils' week-long training camp before departing with the squad for South Africa on April 7. It is, he says, a time of great excitement, as cricket taps ever deeper into the rich resource that is Twenty20 cricket.

But there is cause for concern, too. While McGrath and his metronomic action are unburdened by international commitments these days, the same cannot be said of the IPL's other major drawcards. Already, Sri Lanka have withdrawn from the spring tour of England due to their players' collective desire to compete in the IPL, while cricketers from the West Indies - called in as eleventh-hour replacements - are upset at being denied the opportunity to play the full five weeks in South Africa.

"To me, the best thing the ICC could do is make a window for it," McGrath said. "You'll stop people having to make a decision. Some guys have to make a decision between playing for their country or go over there and play for six-to-eight weeks and pocket $2 million. As much as you'd like to think they'd have their priorities right, that's a lot of money. You can set yourself up and have that security for your family.



"On the way out to the SCG one day, I got stopped at the traffic lights and someone handed $100 through the window from the car next door. They said, 'We love what you doing with the foundation, and we want to support you.' "



"[A window] would be a huge thing for cricket, and hopefully safeguard it against anything detrimental happening to the game. You're not going to stop it. When I started playing, and the way I still feel now, Test match cricket is the ultimate. But now, with Twenty20 and the potential for what you can earn, soon people will be saying Twenty20 is the ultimate. I'd hate to see it affect Test cricket too much. Hopefully, if there's that window there, you can get back and play Test cricket and focus on that."

McGrath will presumably attract much attention in India as he plies his trade for the Delhi Daredevils, but in his native Australia, it is his charitable work that has attracted most publicity of late. In January, Cricket Australia declared day three of the Sydney Test "Jane McGrath Day", and SCG patrons responded by dressing in pink attire - the colour of the McGrath Foundation - and donating generously. Indeed, McGrath's work for the foundation was recognised with his nomination for the prestigious Australian of the Year Award - more than a year after his retirement from cricket.

"I'm just Jane McGrath's husband these days," he quips. "The support for the foundation has been amazing. To be honest I don't know if it could've gone any smoother if I had a genie and three wishes.

"On the way out to the SCG one day, I got stopped at the traffic lights and someone handed $100 through the window from the car next door. They said, 'We love what you doing with the foundation, and we want to support you.' I was a bit tired and probably a little bit grumpy, and that really picked me up. I thought, 'That's what it's all about.' It's amazing how one little gesture can change your whole day. I still have to pinch myself with just how it went.

"My involvement is increasing. I still have sponsors that I work for. I have to spend time with the kids. I still have to put bread and milk on the table. It would be great to do stuff for the foundation 24-7, but someone has got to pay the bills."

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