Paul Terry watched Matthew Hayden's record-breaking 380 at the WACA - but insisted he was not planning to bring the Aussie opener back to Hampshire.

Perth-based Hampshire manager Terry saw Hayden surpass the 375 that Brian Lara made against England in 1994 in the opening Test of Australia's two match series against Zimbabwe yesterday.

After Hayden had helped Australia rack up 736-6 declared, and Terry said: "I was there with my son, it was awesome to see history in the making - but it wasn't the best innings I've ever seen.

"The Zimbabwe attack is not the strongest and he was dropped on 335, when he offered quite an easy catch, and he had a huge mow and was dropped again a bit later on.

"But he still had to put the runs on the board and he got a great reception - everyone knew what was going on. Every five minutes we had to stand up and applaud as he broke a new record, it was great to be there."

In 1997 Hayden topped Hampshire's first class averages, with 1446 runs at 53.55, but it is only in the last two years that he established himself as one of the best players in the world.

Terry dismissed speculation that Hayden could return to the south coast next year but Hampshire are believed to be closer to signing a quality opening batsman as they look to bring in a second overseas player alongside Shane Warne, who may be unavailable for up to a month in June/July as Australia have two Tests in Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, Hampshire are still waiting for Ryan Sidebottom to decide which of his many offers to accept after being approached by 14 counties following his release by Yorkshire.

Shaun Udal has insisted that his shoulder will not stop him bowling in tandem with Shane Warne next season.

Off spinner Udal had a disappointing summer by his standards, taking 34 championship wickets at 36.52. He was more impressive in the National League, taking 23 wickets at 26.26 but spent much of the season battling through the pain caused by his 'rotator cuff' injury.

The damage was caused by wear and tear and not as bad as first feared - so Udal expects to be back in training before Christmas after undergoing an operation last month.

He said: "The operation went as well as could have been expected - my shoulder can now rotate properly.

"I could have been out for four months but I should be able to start lifting weights within ten weeks, which is better than I could have hoped."

Udal added: "The shoulder was causing me some pain from June onwards and by September it wasn't much fun as Charlie Van Der Gucht had retired and Simon Katich was not bowling much.

"It caused me to miss a few games but I should be back in the gym by the end of November."

Udal's appearances were restricted by Warne's presence in 2000 - but he is confident he will be fit to play all of next season.

He said: "The Rose Bowl is getting better, it takes turn and bounce and I've spoken to Warney and I'd like to play in every game.

"The last time Shane was here I played in most of the home games, it was the away games that I tended to miss.

"I don't expect to play too much early in the season but in 2000 two of the three championship games we won were when we both played, against Durham at Basingstoke and against Derbyshire at home."

Hampshire won both of those games by an innings - with the help of centuries from Lawrie Prittipaul and Will Kendall.

Udal, who is working for Fleet-based printers Quality Forum this winter, added: "The crucial thing was that we got runs in both of those games.

"If we can get runs on the board regularly next year, who knows what could happen?"