Make Hay(den) only while the sun shines

The recent debate by the Australian selectors on whether its time to give Matthew Hayden a break shows the stark contrasts in the way Australian and Indian media and public view their cricket.
Just imagine what sort of an outrage would be created even if there was the slightest whisper of "resting" any of our top batsmen.

So, which system is right. The Australian, where a player is continually on his toes, even if he be someone like Justin Langer who as many centuries as a Mark Taylor and a Mark Waugh, or the Indian where 5 to 6 players in the side are present de facto.

The Australian system benefits in the sense that there is no comlacency among any of the players. So even a player with the class of a Damien Martyn, or a Matthew Hayden, is always under pressure to perform.

But is it always that a person performs best under pressure? Won't players with proven class perform much better if they have been given a reasonable degree of certainty of their presence in the side ? A lot, I feel, depends on the character of the player.

Matthew Hayden might be rested for a while, and if he does not do well in the Purra cup for some time, he is history. The biggest gainers in such a case would be the sides competing with Australia. On the other hand, he might come back the way he did in the India tour in 2001.