Australia vice-captain Brad Haddin regrets candid comments after World Cup revelry

Robert Smith 09:41 02/04/2015
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  • Brad Haddin’s comments in a radio interview after a night of celebrations has created a stir.

    Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin has offered an unusual half-apology after his final World Cup sledging of New Zealand, suggesting that liquid celebrations may have fuelled his frank comments during a radio interview.

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    The arch sledger had been at the forefront of big “send-offs” for Kiwi batsmen Martin Guptill and Grant Elliott as well as spinner Daniel Vettori after their key dismissals in Sunday’s final in Melbourne, where Australia thrashed their traditional rivals by seven wickets.

    The next day Haddin went on local radio and, asked about the send-offs, added a few more remarks. “You know what? They deserved it,” the wicketkeeper said.

    “They were that nice to us in New Zealand (when Australia lost a pool match) and we were that uncomfortable. They were that nice to us the whole week.

    “I said in the team meeting: ‘I can’t stand for this anymore. We’re going at them as hard as we can.’

    @CricketAus Disgusting the way your boys keep 'sledging' – Brad Haddin probably sledges his own kids!

    — Ryan Chadha (@RyanChadha) April 1, 2015

    “I said, ‘I’m not playing cricket like this. If we get another crack at these guys in the final I’m letting everything (out). And I’m not going to play another one-day game so they can suspend me for as long as they like.”

    But Haddin has since tempered his words and suggested the celebrations after winning the tournament might have had something to do with his comments.

    “We were celebrating a World Cup win and enjoying ourselves after a long tournament,” he said.

    “In hindsight, we should have stayed off the radio. If I offended anyone, it was never my intention.”

    Defeated New Zealand arrived home Tuesday after diplomatically playing down the send-offs.

    “It wasn’t really discussed within the group,” said captain Brendon McCullum. “Send-offs are send-offs. It’s not something we necessarily are concerned about.”

    Lehmann, however, defended his vice-captain.

    “He’s copped a bit, hasn’t he?” Lehmann said of Haddin. “We like to play our game, no-one got reported out of the game, so we must have played it fair. It was a little bit disappointing, but people are entitled to their opinions and you’re going to have good and bad times. You accept that and you move on.

    “We’re happy with the way we played obviously. We knew we wanted to be really aggressive against them, and look, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

    Haddin claimed offending anyone was never him intention.

    “You’re supposed to enjoy it, enjoy it in the right way and look after yourself and look after everyone else, that’s the main thing. Everyone’s entitled to their opinions.”

    Looking ahead, Lehmann is looking forward to seeing what Pakistani-born wrist spinner Fawad Ahmed can do on the tour of the West Indies ahead of the Ashes.

    He added: “He gives us that added variation you might need in the West Indies and England, with the off spinner in Lyon and the bloke who takes it away in the leg spinner who we rate highly.”

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