Skipper Michael Clarke has rubbished reports of upheaval in the camp before Australia’s embarrassing fourth Test loss to England at Trent Bridge.
A News Corp report said the tour had been dogged by off-field dramas with a long-running feud between the wives of two senior players; Clarke’s refusal to travel on the team bus or socialise with teammates, the sacking of popular vice-captain Brad Haddin after time off for family reasons and the mishandling of selection announcements.
But Clarke rubbished the report, saying when you don’t perform there’s going to be “Chinese whispers”.
“There is no disharmony is this group whatsoever,” Clarke said on Triple M. “The players are as tight as any team I’ve been a part of.
“Travelling in different cars. What a load of shit.”
The report which incensed Clarke added there was a year-long disintegration in the off-field relationship between himself and the rest of the team as he often chose to travel by private car instead of the team bus and rarely attended team get togethers.
It went on to say Clarke’s teammates were stunned when he joined them for a rare drink in the hotel bar on the day he made the decision to stand down while it was also known that the wives of two senior players did not get along which caused friction between their husbands.
“Wives and girlfriends being on tour is a distraction for us. What a load of shit.
“That’s absolute garbage.
“I’ll give back 10 of my Test 100s if it wasn’t for my beautiful wife.”
Regarding Haddin’s axing, Clarke said it was obviously going to be tough as he had grown up playing with Australia’s vice-captain.
But he said Haddin had conducted himself brilliantly throughout the process and the manner in which he helped Peter Nevill.
Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland earlier promised a review of the tour, following the series loss with one Test to go.
Meanwhile, cricketers Ben Cutting and former teammate Ryan Harris have taken to twitter to slam Monday’s edition of The Courier Mail over their damning “From loner to loser” front page headline on Clarke.
“Today’s front page of the @couriermail is the most distastefully poor timed page in a long time,” said Queensland all-rounder Ben Cutting.
Harris agreed: “Well said Cuttsy, couldn’t have put it better myself! #norespect”
The front page however is in stark contrast to the paper’s back page which calls Clarke “one of the greats”, with one fan tweeting “does the front page know what the back page has done?”
josh
Roar Rookie
The Australian cricket team has just gone through the change from the baby boomers>Gen X to Gen Y now. No big deal... Don Bradman was the biggest jerk going around. Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting had their boys club, so nothing's new.
Riddler
Guest
100% agree Compare the difference to vettori after the one day final.. One has class and substance.. The other has... Well.. Umm... Ahhh... ;)
Vic
Guest
Classy comeback Clarkey.
Kurt S
Roar Pro
“The players are as tight as any team I’ve been a part of." I wonder if that is because Clarke has never known any better due to his polarizing nature that makes the likes of Hayden, Hussey, Katich, Ponting and the rest feel a little prickly. Just to say this team is as tight as any other team he has been in is not the same as saying "This team is tight."
Armchair Expert
Guest
It appears the issues with the WAGS could of been a smokescreen for Australia's test performances, as for Clarke's comment about there being no disharmony in the group, that may be true but if they're not winning it's irrelevant, they need to select the right players. Brett Lee made some interesting comments, saying Clarke wasn't ever team mate's cup of tea and you had to do thing's his way or jump ship, in contrast Lee said Smith will want to hear what every player has to say.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
This is the real root of Australia's failures in this Ashes. There should be a ban of acronyms joining the group - and that goes for ISIS as well as WAGs.
Gez
Guest
Best summation of an atrocious Ashes performance. Our middle order batting rewrote the text book on how not to play English wickets!
Nicholas Hartman
Roar Guru
Well, the cricketers are co-workers so really their wags not getting along with each other should truly not even be a problem that they should encounter
Shappy
Guest
Whether this is true or not we are yet to know but the arrogance/rudeness of Clarke was his rush to tell Channel 9 of his resignation on the field while the Poms rightfully were doing their lap of honour, grabbing the limelight ...... just an indication of his lack of captain skills
Harry
Guest
All a sideshow. Can't recall seeing any wives playing injudicious shots outside the off stump early in the innings with hard hands or totally failing to grind it out and put a value on their wicket. Responsibility for Ashes failure lies with the top order batters and with the all too evident inadequate tactics and preparation. Australia lost the last 2 tests because of atrocious batting from 3 to 7 in the order. Why that happened needs honest and in depth examination. The presence of wives and kids on tour is surely not a major or substantial reason.
The truth
Guest
You guys may joke about this kind of stuff but I have seen many friendships and businesses end due to feuding wives. Generally guys tend to sort out their issues pretty quickly over a beer but it doesn't happen when females become involved.
Red Kev
Roar Guru
Some people still blame them for the alleged "original sin", why not this too?
Greg
Guest
I can easily guess who the two wives are!! Behind a great leader is his wife and good luck to Steve Smith!
PNG Bronco fan#88
Guest
Hahaha...off field drama reports after the ashes is lost. Where was this report after the first test? AAP, why not put up report for the lowest test scores ever from fifth lowest down to the self destruction at Trent Bridge!
JB
Guest
This kind of unsubstantiated gossip belongs in New Idea
madampotatofeet
Roar Rookie
Are they seriously trying to blame the women for their performance now? They weren't the ones out in the middle...