"I'm Disowning My Father": Matthew Hayden Warned By Daughter Grace After Joe Root 'Naked' Promise
Matthew Hayden received a humorous warning from his daughter Grace after not having to fulfil his promise of walking around the MCG naked.
Legendary Australian opener Matthew Hayden was recently saved from fulfilling a bizarre promise. Hayden had claimed that he would walk naked around the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) if star England batter Joe Root did not score a century in the ongoing Ashes Tests series. Root's hundred in the second Test at The Gabba meant that Hayden would not have to do so. Reflecting on this, Matthew Hayden's daughter, cricket presenter Grace Hayden, jokingly stated that she will "disown" her father if he makes a promise like this again in the future. (India vs South Africa 1st T20I Live Updates)Â
Grace Hayden expressed her gratitude to Joe Root for preventing her father from walking naked around the MCG. Root slammed an unbeaten 138 in the first innings for England.
"I was so grateful that Root scored a hundred. It was the first time in my life I wanted an Englishman to do well in an Ashes series," said Grace Hayden in a video on social media.
"Root, oh my goodness, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I'm disowning my father if he says he's going to run naked around anything ever again," she further said.
Grace Hayden thanks Joe Root for his Hayden-saving century in the Ashes. #GraceHayden #MathewHayden #Australia #JoeRoot #TheAshes #Ashes2025 #MrCricketUAE pic.twitter.com/SuKOnEdw4O
— Mr. Cricket UAE (@mrcricketuae) December 8, 2025
Grace Hayden had earlier made a post on Instagram thanking Root for "saving all our eyes" after his century.
Meanwhile, Matthew Hayden criticised England pacer Jofra Archer's approach after England lost the second Ashes Test to Australia, going 2-0 down in the series.
Archer was involved in a verbal run-in with Australia captain Steve Smith, before the batter slammed the pacer for a few boundaries.
"It was really quite painful to watch with Jofra Archer," Hayden said, as quoted from The Sydney Morning Herald.
"There were periods in Perth where he cranked it up. But largely speaking, when it really counted in the first innings (in Brisbane), he bowled the majority of those overs at 130-136km/h," he noted.
"Then to see that stark difference of airspeed in Australia's second innings, and have all that verbal barrage and fake smiles. That's never going to endear Jofra Archer to his own fans, let alone a great player like Steve Smith," he said.
"Certainly, for people who know the game very well, that was a very disappointing reaction with very little humility and a whole bunch of bravado," Hayden added.
Joe Root
Australia Cricket Team