Hayden replaces struggling Blewett

Hayden was the viable option as Blewett struggled for runs and selectors reacted Thursday by dropping the South Australian right-hander for the third time in his 46-Test career.

Blewett’s demotion appeared inevitable on Monday when he poked around for 25 runs from 115 balls in the second Test.

“It was a real tough decision. It’s never a great policy to change a winning side but if you think you can improve a side then you should make changes,” captain Steve Waugh said.

“We went with our gut feeling and we thought Blewey probably wasn’t playing as good cricket as he would have liked and sometimes in that situation you need to make a change.

“He’s been given plenty of opportunities, I guess, and he didn’t quite take them.

“The part I hate about captaincy (is) telling someone they’ve been dropped and doing that with Blewey was really tough.” Blewett did not speak about his axing on Thursday but Hayden was more forthcoming about his long journey back to the Test XI.

The Queensland left-hander had been renowned for his positive attitude after scoring just 261 runs in 12 Test innings.

“He’s a better player now,” Waugh said. “The situation last time was that (former captain) Mark Taylor was struggling a bit with his batting and Matty Hayden needs a bloke at the other end he can feed off and I don’t think that happened for him last time.

“It was no-one’s fault but he wasn’t working as closely with his partner as he would have liked. That situation has changed. He knows his game pretty well, he’s relaxed and I think he’ll go out there and show he’s an excellent Test match player.”

Hayden has thrived since he was thrown back into the Australian One-Day team last month for injured batsman Ricky Ponting, scoring three half-centuries in five innings against New Zealand.

He was overlooked for Ponting’s Test position, which went to Damien Martyn. “I had complete faith in the selectors and the leadership of Stephen, Shane (Warne) and John (Buchanan)," Hayden said.

“I just had that feeling straight away that there would be a right time. I put the rest of it out of my mind.

“There is an element of frustration but you are away with an Australian squad and you can look down at the emblems (on your clothes) and see kangaroos starting to hop around the place you know there’s an amazing pride in playing away from home.”

Hayden is assured of a start on Friday’s opening day of the Test, partnering Michael Slater, while off-spinner Colin Miller or Damien Fleming will be the likely 12th man.

Waugh expected a change in New Zealand’s struggling top-order, even though NZ captain Stephen Fleming refused to talk about a reshuffle.

Teams (from)

Australia:Steve Waugh (captain), Michael Slater, Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Mark Waugh, Damien Martyn, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Brett Lee, Damien Fleming, Colin Miller, Glenn McGrath.

New Zealand:Stephen Fleming (captain), Craig Spearman, Matthew Horne, Mathew Sinclair, Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan, Chris Cairns, Adam Parore, Shayne O’Connor, Daryl Tuffey, Paul Wiseman, Bruce Martin.