‘Divided changeroom’: Cricket greats left ‘staggered’ by Aussie’s comments

Comments from Australian bowler Josh Hazlewood left cricket greats “staggered” and asking if there’s a “divide” in the Aussie changeroom.

Comments from Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood have exposed what could potentially be a divide within the Aussie squad during the first Test in Perth.

Speaking after the third day of play on what Australia’s plans would be to try and salvage the series opener while trailing by 522 runs, Hazlewood gave an eye-opening response.

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“You’ll have to ask the batters that question, I’m sort of relaxing and getting a bit of physio treatment and probably looking mostly to the next Test and what plans we can do against these batters,” he said.

Hazlewood’s remarks took the Fox Cricket commentators by surprise as many started to read between the lines.

“That to me tells me there is potentially a divided changeroom,” Adam Gilchrist said on Fox Cricket.

“I don’t know if that’s the case, I might be reading too much into that.”

Michael Vaughan added: “I must admit I’m staggered by that. Publicly I’ve never heard an Australian come out and divide the camp into batters and bowlers.

Watch Josh Hazlewood’s comments in the video above

Josh Hazlewood's comments raised eyebrows. Photo: Fox Cricket.

“There’s 11 batters, that’ll never change. Every single player has to come out and bat.

“I’ve been in many teams and we get it. When the batters are going well and they’re not getting the wicket, you go ‘come on bowlers’. And when the batters are batting like Australia are at the minute, the bowlers say ‘come on batters give us a little bit more time’.

“They gave them 51 overs, so you can see there’s a bit of grumpiness there.

“There’s two days to go in this Test match, it’s a long shot for Australia to get anything out of this game but to see a player publicly say I’m thinking about the next game before this one is finished … I’ve never ever seen that from an Australian player.”

Josh Hazlewood is already looking ahead to the second Test. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Indian great Ravi Shastri said the comments showed there were mental cracks appearing within the Australian squad.

“What the Indian dressing room will be thinking when they hear something like that, we know there are cracks on the pitch but I feel there are some mental cracks as well at this moment in time in the opposition,” he said.

“Having come to Australia for 30-40 years, I think this is the first time an Indian team is feeling that ‘You know what, we are better than the opposition in their backyard’.”

David Warner said: “As a senior player, you’ve probably got a duty of care when you’re representing the rest of the team to have something the batters would want to get across.

“All the batters are thinking about going there and batting. There’s not a lot of runs in that changeroom at the moment. To have support from a bowler, yes it was a long day, those comments probably weren’t warranted.

“I don’t think there’s a divide in there … after a long day you can come off and start pointing fingers but I don’t think there’s a divide in that changeroom.”

Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc had to slog it out with the bat. (Photo by SAEED KHAN / AFP)

Hazlewood does have a point though. Australia’s No. 11 batter combined with Mitchell Starc for the highest partnership of the first innings (25 runs off 19 overs).

After Alex Carey was dismissed by Jasprit Bumrah in the second over on Day 2, Starc and Hazlewood were forced to knuckle down as they tried their best and managed to reduce the first innings deficit to less than 50.

As Hazlewood came to the crease, Adam Gilchrist said on Fox Cricket: “This is not in his job description.”

Starc was eventually dismissed for 26 off 112 balls as he tried to strike a balance between ticking the scoreboard over and farming the strike to protect Hazlewood, who finished seven not out.

The first innings total of 104 was Australia’s second lowest total against India on home soil.

It’s no surprise Hazlewood was a tad prickly, given Australia’s bowlers were out on the field for extended periods on each of the first three days of the Test.

The only saving grace is there is a 10-day gap between the first Test and second Test, which begins in Adelaide on December 6.

India’s biggest win over Australia by runs was a 320-run victory in Mohali in 2008.