Josh Hazlewood says win at all costs culture to blame

Josh Hazlewood believes a focus only on winning may have been a catalyst for the cheating scandal in South Africa.

Australian bowler Josh Hazlewood appeals for the wicket of South Africa’s Hashim Amla in Durban last March. Picture: Getty Images

Josh Hazlewood believes a focus only on winning may have been a catalyst for the cheating scandal in South Africa.

Cricket Australia might be running its own inquiries into the team’s disgrace, but those involved are already moving toward their own conclusions.

Hazlewood wondered if the players were too immature and the demands that they win at all costs too great. While not talking directly about the ball-tampering incident, Usman Khawaja remembered just how relentless the summer was and how tired the players became over the long summer.

It has been three months now since Cameron Bancroft took sandpaper onto the field. He, Steve Smith and David Warner are all serving bans from cricket as a result.

The reaction in Australia was incendiary and the time since has allowed the players time for reflections on how an ugly tour became the ugliest in Australian cricket history.

Hazlewood, who withdrew from the ODI tour with injury, was thoughtful in a discussion on News Corps Cricket Unfiltered podcast this week.

“It’s a big tour always South Africa, coming off the back of an Ashes as well which was quite stressful,” he said. “All big tours are stressful and that added pressure we probably put on ourselves as much as anyone to win.

“Where the stress has come from is that we are pretty much measured on our cricket ability, not as people off the field, which we had probably got away from in the past six months, 12 months. A focus only on results I guess drives people to do different things and we are only measured on our cricket success. I don’t think that’s how it is now, I think that’s changed a little bit, JL (Justin Langer) has talked a lot about how we are behaving off the field and we are going to be measured on that as well which is a good sign.”

Langer speculated recently that Smith may not have been strong enough as a leader.

Steve Waugh pointed out this week that he was 33 when he became captain, while Smith was only 26.

“Cricket-wise I think he was ready, he probably wasn’t ready with everything that came with it I guess,” Hazlewood said.

“It’s a different time now where we’re basically cricketers from the time we leave school and we don’t really experience life outside of cricket and the cricket environment, back in those times they probably got out in the world, had a few jobs, learned a lot of life lessons. Now you go straight from school into a cricket environment and cricket is all you know.”

Hazlewood admitted the players had no idea how huge the scandal would be.

“Absolutely, we went to bed that night and Australia hadn’t woken up yet, when it hit back in Australia and we woke up it was quite surprising how big a reaction it was,” he said. “It wasn’t massive in South Africa, all the Australian writers know it’s going on here and there and around different teams and people have been done in the past, I guess they talked it down a bit if anything but once it hit home the media went the other way and the reaction was massive.”

Speaking on RSN, Khawaja noted how exhausted the players were.

“I found it really draining to be honest after the Ashes, I know a few of the other guys did too,” he sad. “I was really tired. It didn’t hit me until it was all finished and I was like ‘oh boy’ it’s all caught up to me.”

Subscribe to the CRICKET UNFILTERED podcast at the iTunes store