Former Test great Adam Gilchrist says comments made by fast bowler Josh Hazelwood after a frustrating third day on Sunday suggest there is a divide in the Australian cricket team.
Hazlewood, who finished with 1-28 from 21 overs as India declared on 6-487 in their second innings on Sunday, was obviously frustrated when he fronted a press conference shortly after Nathan McSweeney and Marnus Labuschagne’s cheap dismissals in the final minutes of play had all but ended Australia’s hopes of victory.
“Josh, how do you approach tomorrow?” a reporter asked Hazlewood, with Australia needing 522 runs to beat India. “What happens tonight, and what do you do tomorrow to try and turn it around?”
Hazlewood responded: “You probably have to ask one of the batters that question. I’m sort of relaxing and trying to get a bit of physio and a bit of treatment, and I’m probably looking mostly towards the next Test and what plans we can do against these batters.
“I guess the batters are just sticking to what they do, their preparation. They’ll have a hit in the morning and talk around plans of what happened in the first innings, how they can negate that and move forward and improve on that.”
During Fox Sports’ coverage before play on day four, Gilchrist asked fellow panellists Michael Vaughan, David Warner and Ravi Shastri whether Hazlewood’s remarks suggested there was tension in the Australian camp.
Josh Hazlewood during the Test match between Australia and India in Perth. Credit: Getty Images
“That to me tells me there is potentially a divided change room,” Gilchrist said. “I don’t know if there is. I might be reading too much into that.”
Gilchrist asked Warner whether there was more to Hazlewood’s comments.
“Those comments probably weren’t warranted, [but] I don’t think there is a divide,” Warner said. “In the England team, Broady [Stuart Broad] or Jimmy [Anderson] might have come off after a long day and you can start pointing fingers, but I don’t think there is a divide.”
However, Vaughan was stronger on the issue and expressed his surprise at Hazlewood’s remarks.
“I must admit, I’m staggered by that,” Vaughan said on Fox Cricket.
“Josh Hazlewood is a great bowler, terrific team member. Publicly, I’ve never heard an Australian come out and kind of divide the camp into batters and bowlers.
“There’s 11 batters. That will never change. Every single player has to bat. There’s two days to go in the Test match. It’s a long shot, a huge shot for Australia to get anything out of this game, but to publicly see a player basically saying, ‘I’m thinking about the next game’ before this game is finished [is surprising].
“I’ve never, ever seen that from an Australian player. Any player, really, around the globe.”
In the history of Test cricket, Australia’s top four has never made fewer runs in a match. The 29 runs made by McSweeney, Usman Khawaja, Labuschagne, Steve Smith and Pat Cummins (nightwatchman in second innings) is worse than the 38 made by Australia’s top four across both innings of a 1888 Test in Manchester.
India’s second-innings total was the highest score by a visiting team in Australia since 2019.
