Former Australia cricketer Neil Harvey has on Saturday lashed out at beleaguered opener Matthew Hayden calling him ‘a pain in the bum’.

"He is a pain in the bum," Harvey said at a 50th anniversary reunion of the 1958-59 Australian side that regained the Ashes.

"Hayden at 37, what I think what he should do is head on down and say, 'I have had enough' and quit," said the former Test great.

Hayden managed 31 in the first innings of the third Test against South Africa in Sydney which was not enough to silence the critics.

"I thought he was pathetic today," quipped Harvey.

"He wasn't trying to score runs and he had forgotten how to hit the ball, and at his age he is not going to get any better, is he? He has been a good player, but he hasn't been a great player in my opinion."

Hayden, who has amassed 8555 Test runs at an average of over 50 with 30 Test centuries, has managed just 344 runs at less than 23 in the last nine Tests.

And with critics baying for his scalp, if Hayden does not pick himself up in the second innings, many feel this could be the last time he would be representing Australia in the longer version of the game.