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Lawry still one up on Hayden
Left-handed opening batsmen Bill Lawry and Matthew Hayden have both compiled fine Test records for Australia.
Left-handed opening batsmen Bill Lawry and Matthew Hayden have both compiled fine Test records for Australia.
There, apart from a ferocious competitive ethos hardly unusual in Australians, the resemblance ends.
Lawry was dour even by the standards of the 1960s when two runs an over was the norm in Test cricket.
Hayden is notable for his aggression at a time when Australia regularly score at twice that rate.
Yet 33 years after playing his last Test for Australia Lawry can still boast one entry on his career record beyond Hayden or anybody else in the current Australia team.
Australia, who start a four-Test series against India on Wednesday, have not won an away series against the Indians since Lawry led the 1969 side to a 3-1 victory.
The 1969 series was eagerly awaited in India and fiercely fought. For Australia and the rest of the world it was still viewed as essentially an aperitif to the subsequent series in South Africa which was to decide the unofficial world champions.
After three months in India, the last series for South Africa before 22 years of apartheid isolation resulted in a 4-0 win for a magnificent home side who would have been a match for any team at any time.
