The Australia team management’s decision to drop four players from the touring party on disciplinary grounds boomeranged with star player Shane Watson openly revolting and quitting the tour. Hours after he was axed from the team for the third Test for ignoring a team management order, Watson checked out of the team hotel and left for Sydney.
Speaking to the media on the issue, Watson said he was shattered. “Any time you’re suspended for a Test unless you do something unbelievably wrong, and obviously everyone knows what those rules are - I think it is very harsh,” said Watson.
The upset Australia vice-captain is also contemplating quitting Test cricket altogether, even though, he felt he was at his peak.
“I’m at a stage where I’m sort of weighing up my future and what I want to do with my cricket in general to be honest. I do love playing, there is no doubt about that but...
“I’m going to spend the next few weeks with my family and just weigh up my options of just exactly what direction I want to go,” he said.
The player said he was anyway going to miss the fourth Test to be home for the birth of his first child and had thought of communicating the decision to the team management on Monday. “I was about to communicate that to the leadership group but they obviously beat me to it by telling me I wasn’t selected for this Test,” said Watson.
The player said he was anyway going to miss the fourth Test to be home for the birth of his first child and had thought of communicating the decision to the team management on Monday. “I was about to communicate that to the leadership group but they obviously beat me to it by telling me I wasn’t selected for this Test,” said Watson.
“Also overnight, things have changed and Lee (wife Lee Furlong) wasn’t going to tell me things had changed because she knew how much it meant to me to be able to play. (The baby) was due in a couple of weeks but it’s looking like things have sped up.”