MELBOURNE, Dec 23: Matthew Hayden, 36, may be one of the oldest players in the Australian squad but he has no intention of retiring in the near future, putting to rest speculation that the first Test against India in Melbourne would be his last Boxing Day Test.

“I’ll tell you what I think about the future – I’m not retiring,” Hayden told the Sun-Herald.

Despite his age, Hayden is one of the fittest in the Australian team and said that he wanted to play till he’s 40.

“I look at the training and my fitness as being the benchmarks. We did our tests running between the wickets and I was second to Pup [Michael Clarke]. And for the beep tests I’m still in the top four. It’s not like I’m waning physically.

“I started later [in the Australian side] than a lot of guys so I haven’t got the wear and tear. I’m enjoying it. Like, this Test coming up, it’s going to be a cracker.”

The Boxing Day Test against India will give Hayden an opportunity to boost his Test average for 2007 – 37.25 after three Tests – to match his spectacular form in One-day Internationals.

Hayden was the highest run-scorer of the World Cup in the West Indies and finished the year with 1601 runs in 30 innings- by far his most prolific year – with five hundreds and six half-centuries at an average of 59.—Agencies