“I'm disowning my father” - Grace Hayden thanks Joe Root for saving her dad from ‘Naked MCG’ promise

Matthew Hayden’s daughter, and now a well-known cricket presenter, Grace Hayden, has thanked England’s veteran batter Joe Root for saving her father from fulfilling a strange promise he made before the ongoing Ashes series. 

Before the series began, the former Australian batter said he would “walk naked around the MCG” if Root failed to score a century on Australian soil this time. Root has been in great form in Test cricket but had never scored a hundred in Australia. In Brisbane during the second Test, Root smashed an unbeaten 138 in the first innings and finally reached his first Test century in Australia.

That ended Hayden’s unusual promise, and in a viral video, Grace said she was happy to see an Englishman do well in an Ashes match for the first time in her life. “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,” Grace said.

She also added that she would disown her father if he ever made such wild promises again. “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 added.

Even just after Root scored that century, Grace took to her Instagram and shared a story to thank the England batter, writing “Root thank you you’ve saved all our eyes.”

“I was backing you for a hundred in a good way.” - Hayden to Root

After the century in the pink-ball Test in Brisbane, the England Cricket Board (ECB) shared a video on X (formerly Twitter) where Matthew Hayden congratulated Root.

He said: “G’day Joe. Congratulations, mate on a hundred here in Australia. Took you a while and there was no-one that had more skin in the game than me, literally. I was backing you for a hundred in a good way. So mate, congratulations. Ten fifties and finally a hundred—you little ripper mate. Have a beauty and bloody enjoy it.”

However, Root’s century went in vain as England lost the game by eight wickets. With two straight losses, they now trail the series 0-2, with the third match scheduled in Adelaide on December 17.

Stay updated with the latest cricket news, match insights, and exclusive updates at Sky365 and download the Sky365 App to start betting today!