Wives’ feud ‘garbage’: Clarke

RETIRING Australian captain Michael Clarke has rubbished local media reports that internal divisions within the squad were responsible for the Ashes defeat.

Clarke, who has decided to bring an end to his career after next week’s fifth test at The Oval, launched a broadside at allegations in an article in Brisbane’s Courier-Mail newspaper yesterday.

The report said Clarke had travelled by separate transport and refused to socialise with other players, that a feud between the wives of two senior players had destabilised the squad, and that the dropping of Brad Haddin had caused serious disquiet.

‘‘I can guarantee you, the feeling in this group is exceptional,’’ Clarke told Australia’s Triple M radio.

‘‘There is no disharmony in this group whatsoever. The players are as tight as any team I’ve been a part of.’’

Australia relinquished the Ashes after defeat by an innings and 78 runs at Trent Bridge on Saturday, going 3-1 down in the five-test series.

Clarke was particularly dismissive of the claim the presence of players’ wives and girlfriends had been a distraction.

‘‘That’s absolute garbage,’’ he said. ‘‘I’ll give back 10 of my test 100s if it wasn’t for my beautiful wife. I’d be half the player I was without her.’’

Clarke said the dropping of Haddin for the second test after the wicketkeeper had missed the first test to be with his sick daughter had been difficult, but accepted it had been done for cricketing reasons.

Clarke also accepted that the death of his friend Phillip Hughes at the end of last year had affected him more than he

Michael Clarke expected.

‘‘The part I didn’t expect was how hard it hit me personally, there’s no doubt I miss him every day,’’ he said.

‘‘It still affects me personally but as an Australian sportsman, you need to be leading from the front and still performing and unfortunately I haven’t been able to do that.’’

His prevailing sentiment, though, had been disappointment at his own performances with the bat during the series.

‘‘It’s heartbreaking to have played the way I’ve played and not helped the team get over the line.’’

Photo: GETTY IMAGES Michael Clarke has denied there was a distracting feud between two wives of Australian cricketers during the Ashes series loss to England. The wives and girlfiends gathered at Lord’s last month were: (back row, left to right) Isabelle Platt, partner of...