Shane Watson says he wasn’t fazed by allegations that Australian captain Michael Clarke described him as a “cancer” on the team.
Sacked former coach Mickey Arthur alleged in leaked court documents from his case against Cricket Australia, that there was a split in the team, with Clarke and former vice captain Watson on either side, and that he was “the meat in the sandwich”.
Watson said he might have struggled with the dirty laundry being revisited had new coach Darren Lehmann not re-energised his passion for the game.
Under Arthur, Watson was contemplating retirement after the tour of India, under Lehmann, he’s gained new motivation to play on.
The allrounder didn’t specifically deny the allegations made by Arthur, but said he and Clarke have had no need to improve what he regards as a good relationship.
“We come together to try and help out Australian cricket as much as we can within the team, so things haven’t changed,” Watson said.
“As we always have, Michael and I have got along well. We know what we need to do within the team to get the best out of everyone around us and I know we’re both really enjoying what’s going on at this point in time.”
Watson had enough issues to worry about with form, without the Arthur allegations surfacing on the even of the second Test at Lord’s.
Culminating in his suspension over “homeworkgate”, Watson has made no secret of the fact that things soured between he and Arthur on the tour of India, which he describes as the low-point of his career.
But despite the harshness of the “cancer” claim that emerged, Watson said he didn’t let it affect him.
“Because it’s something that’s happened in the past and I don’t care what’s happened in the past,” he said.
“I’ve been trying to put all that behind me and there’s things that just keep surfacing … hopefully none of that will rear its head any more and we can all move forward.
“Things that were in and around the team through that period of time of about a year certainly weren’t that great.
“But this is an exciting time for me in my cricket career to be able to have Darren Lehmann doing an amazing job of bringing everyone together.
“For me it’s the most enjoyable time I’ve had within the Australian team for a long, long time.
“If things hadn’t evolved the way they have within the team then it probably would have affected me more.”
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