Matthew Lawrence Hayden AM is an Australian cricket commentator and former cricketer. His career spanned fifteen years. Hayden was a powerful and aggressive left-handed opening batsman who, along with opening partners Justin Langer and Adam Gilchrist, contributed heavily to Australia's success during its "golden era" (2000–2008) in Test and One Day International cricket respectively. He holds the record of highest individual score by an Australian batsman in Tests, having scored 380 against Zimbabwe. His confidence and exceptional powers of concentration saw him emerge as a prolific and consistent scorer at the top of the order for Australia and secure his place amongst batting's elite.

Matthew Hayden was born on October 29, 1971, in Kingaroy, Queensland, Australia. He was educated at Marist College in Ashgrove. From a rural upbringing and a boarding school education, Hayden's taste for the outdoors offered a familiar and likable counterpoint to his dizzying exploits as one of the most potent cricketers.

Strength was Matthew Hayden's strength - both mental and physical. It enabled him to shrug off years of carping that he was technically too limited for Test cricket because of the way he played around his front pad, and it enabled him to touch rarefied heights of batsmanship. Before his maiden first-class innings, he asked if anyone had made 200 on debut, then went out and hit 149. The runs rarely abated over the next 17 years. Tall, powerful and equipped with concentration befitting the fisherman and surfer that he is, he battered the ball at and through the off side for days at a time. He has also made himself a fine catcher in the slips and gully.

Hayden and Michael Slater were both picked for the 1993 tour of England, but Slater performed better in the tour games, and secured the opening position alongside vice-captain Mark Taylor for the next few years. Hayden played a single test in the March 1994 Test Match against South Africa in Johburg, scoring 15 and 5, filling in for an injured Taylor. His next Test selection was in the 1996/97 season, with three tests each against the West Indies and South Africa. He made his maiden century (125 against the West Indies in Adelaide), but averaged only 24.1 over the six tests, including four ducks. He was dropped from the team, as the selectors favoured other openers, initially Taylor and Matthew Elliott, then later Slater and Greg Blewett, for the next few years

During these years, Hayden was a prolific batsman for the Queensland first-class cricket team. Weight of domestic cricket runs, and persistence, resulted in a resurrection of his international career for the 1999/2000 tour of New Zealand and the following 2000/01 summer against the West Indies. His results in those series were unconvincing, but he was still picked for the 2001 tour of India.

On that tour of India, Hayden scored 549 runs, an Australian record for a three-Test series, at an average of 109.80. Before the 2001 India tour, Hayden averaged 24.36 from 13 Tests, with one century. After that, he was an automatic selection for the Test side. He scored over 1,000 Test runs in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005, the first man to achieve the feat five times. He was selected as one of Wisden's five 2003 Cricketers of the Year.

In the first innings of the First Test against Zimbabwe on 10 October 2003 at the WACA, Hayden scored 380 runs from only 437 balls to set a new world record for an individual Test innings, passing the previous record of Brian Lara (375), set in April 1994. Hayden's total remained the record until 12 April 2004, when Lara scored 400 not out. As of June 2024, it remains the second-highest innings in Test history, and is the highest ever by an Australian. For his performances in 2004, he was named in the World Test XI by ICC.

Hayden suffered a considerable form-slump towards the end of 2004, and went for sixteen consecutive tests without scoring a century. This continued into the highly anticipated 2005 Ashes, where Hayden failed to reach 40 in any of the first four tests, which put pressure on his position in the team; a hard-fought 138 from 303 balls in the Fifth Test at The Oval arguably saved his career. This signalled a return to form for Hayden for the 2005/06 season, and he scored centuries in four consecutive Tests, including the Oval Test, then home Tests against the ICC World XI and West Indies.

Hayden's form in the 2006/07 Ashes series against England was average; he failed to reach 40 in the first three innings of the series, but again returned to form with scores of 92 in Perth, and 153 in the Boxing Day Test. For his performances in 2006, he was again named in the World Test XI. Hayden scored 30 centuries in his 103 tests. As of January 2025, this makes him one of only four Australians to have scored more test centuries than Don Bradman (29 centuries in 52 tests), the other three being Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh and Steve Smith. He also scored 29 half-centuries in Tests.

In 2007/2008, Hayden became the third Australian, after Donald Bradman (four centuries in five Tests in 1947–48) and David Boon (three tons in five Tests in 1991–92) to register three or more hundreds in a Test series against India. The 2008/09 season was Hayden's final season of Test cricket. In nine Tests against India, New Zealand and South Africa, Hayden managed only 383 runs at 23.94, with two half-centuries and three ducks. His career ended when he was dropped from the ODI Australian team. Soon after Hayden announced his retirement from all international and first-class cricket prior to the tour of South Africa. His place was filled by young New South Wales opener Phillip Hughes. He finished his test career with 8625 runs at an average of 50.73.

Hayden's most notable opening batting partner was Justin Langer. The opening pair represented Australia in more than 100 Test innings. The pair made 5654 runs while batting together in opening partnerships, with an average of 51.88 runs per partnership; as of January 2019, only Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes of the West Indies have scored more Test runs as an opening partnership, with 6,482 at an average of 47.31. Hayden was a regular and successful slip fielder for Australia, and he took 128 catches during his Test career.

Hayden played as an opening batsman in the Australian team in 160 One Day Internationals throughout his career. He made his ODI debut for Australia in 1993 against England, but after playing 13 ODIs in 1993 and 1994, he was dropped from the team until 2000. Hayden played in the Australian side that won the 2003 One Day International Cricket World Cup. He was dropped from the ODI squad because of poor form after The Ashes in 2005, but returned to the Australian squad in the 2006–07 Australian season after Simon Katich fell out of favour and Shane Watson was injured.

In February 2007, Matthew Hayden posted his highest ODI score (181 not out) against New Zealand at Seddon Park in Hamilton. It was at the time the highest ODI score ever by an Australian and gave Hayden the unique distinction of holding both the Test and ODI record scores for an Australian batsman until the ODI record was broken. He dominated the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the West Indies the tournament's best batsman, scoring three centuries before the completion of the Super 8s section of the tournament; he was only the third person to achieve this feat. The century against South Africa came off just 66 balls and broke John Davison's record for the fastest century in a World Cup.

On 13 January 2009, Hayden held a press conference at the Gabba and officially announced his retirement from representative cricket. The announcement followed a series of relatively poor performances in New Zealand and South Africa's tour of Australia, in which he failed to pass fifteen runs in nine innings. He was inducted into Australian Cricket Hall of Fame at the 2016/17 Allan Border Medal ceremony in Sydney. On September 13, 2021, he was announced as a head coach of Pakistan for 2021 T20 World Cup. This was his first major coaching assignment. In September 2022, he was appointed as the Pakistan team's mentor for 2022 T20 World Cup.