Sydney, Dec 28 : John Bracewell, who coached New Zealand in the Trans-Tasman Trophy series that began last month, has said that his team is responsible for beginning out of form Australian opener Matthew Hayden's slide this summer by revealing the flaw in his technique that could force him to retire from the game.

Bracewell said his team had identified that Hayden's "lazy" front shoulder, which made him susceptible to nicking the ball early in his innings.

Hayden scored just 8, 0 and 24 in the two Tests against New Zealand, and was dismissed twice at the Gabba to outside edges that fell to Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum at first slip and wicketkeeper, respectively, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Hayden has been caught between the keeper and point in four of his six innings this summer, scoring just 56 runs at 9.33 in the process.

Another failure in the second innings at the MCG could prompt him, or the national selectors, to draw the curtain on his international career in Sydney this week.

"It was pretty much the same as just before the 2007 World Cup. We identified, as England had done previously, that he can get a bit lazy with his front shoulder at times," Bracewell said.

"When that happens, he tends to collapse on his back leg a bit, and loses control of his drives through the off side. We don't know why that was the case - whether it was something to do with the way he was thinking, or a training issue - but we observed that it had re-emerged and it worked quite well for us," he said.

"He is a powerful man. When he doesn't get that shoulder over the ball, the hands tend to take over and the ball can tend to skew and carry off his bat. It is a technical fault that creeps into his game when he is out of nick, and he is out of nick at the moment. There is a very small window of opportunity to get a great player like Hayden out. There is a defined line you want to bowl to him, and then hope he falls into the trap," Bracewell said.

Hayden said during the week he would decide on his international future after the Sydney Test, but another failure in Melbourne could prompt him to make a call earlier. (ANI)