Brisbane: Senior Australian opening batsman Matthew Hayden announced his immediate retirement from representative cricket at a press conference. Matthew Hayden was dropped from Australia's squad after the Test series against South Africa.  Matthew Hayden was the most successful opening batsman for the Australian Team.

Hayden's anticipated announcement at the age of 37 followed a poor run of form in Australia's recent losing Test series against India and South Africa.

The aggressive left-hander leaves after 103 Tests with 8,625 runs at a batting average of 50.74.

He hit 30 centuries, which ranks him sixth all-time behind Indian Sachin Tendulkar's 41.

"Today I'm announcing my retirement from representative cricket, effective immediately," Hayden told the press conference.

"I know that now is the time to move on. I am retiring from cricket, not from life, there is still so much that I want to achieve and contribute to the community."

Family time, cooking, fishing and spending time outdoors were among the passions Hayden said he wanted to pursue.

Hayden joins celebrated cricketers Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Justin Langer and Adam Gilchrist, who have retired from international cricket in the last two years.

The first of Hayden's 103 Tests came in South Africa in 1993-94, when he replaced the injured Mark Taylor, but it was not until 2000 that he was finally able to secure a regular spot in the national side. He went to India and scored an Australia-record 549 runs in three matches and his place was not in danger until the 2005 Ashes tour. Ending that series with a century at The Oval, he produced four hundreds in consecutive games for the second time in his career.

No Australian opener has scored more Test runs than Hayden's 8625 - at an average of 50.73 - and his 30 hundreds place him behind Ricky Ponting and Steve Waugh on the local list. The final time he reached three figures was against India in Adelaide 12 months ago. In the one-day arena there were 161 matches, 6133 runs, 10 hundreds and two World Cups.

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