Australian Test team holds ‘conversations’ after Josh Hazlewood’s eyebrow-raising remark split team in two

Australian batsman Travis Head has denied claims the Test side is fractured after bowler Josh Hazlewood raised eyebrows during the heavy defeat to India in Perth.

Hazlewood fronted the media after day three — when Australia reached stumps in complete disarray at 3-12 — and split the team into two when asked how he would approach day four.

Despite still being required to bat in the record chase, the No.11 said he was already focused on getting ready for the Adelaide Test.

“You probably have to ask one of the batters that question,” Hazlewood said.

“I’m sort of relaxing and trying to get a bit of physio and a bit of treatment, and I’m probably looking mostly towards the next Test and what plans we can do against these batters.

“I guess the batters are just sticking to what they do, their preparation. They’ll have a hit in the morning and talk around plans of what happened in the first innings, how they can negate that and move forward and improve on that.”

Former England captain Michael Vaughan said he was “staggered” by Hazlewood’s comments.

“Publicly, I’ve never heard an Australia come out and divide the camp as batters and bowlers,” he told Fox.

“To publicly see a player basically say, ‘I’m thinking about the next game before this game has finished’ ... I’ve never, ever seen that from an Australian player.”

Indian great Ravi Shastri said the tourists would have realised then and there that Australia were playing with “mental cracks”.

But the Aussies have rallied to shut down the backlash.

Pat Cummins and chief selector George Bailey have both declared the team is “united”, with the skipper saying “everyone gets along really well”.

Head said critics had “picked the bones out of the comment” from Hazlewood “on the back of a poor week”.

“Which is fine. It’s ok to be critical, we understand that,” he told 7NEWS.

“All the boys hung out together last night, nothing changed in the way we were as a group.

“We stuck together, had some good conversations as we always would, win or draw.

“It’s a pretty level group. No doubt there was a lot of disappointment around the room but definitely no fractions.”

The selectors look set to lock in the same XI despite Marnus Labuschagne in particular coming under heavy pressure.

“The same people in that change room are the same people that will be in Adelaide,” McDonald said.

McDonald did leave the door open for white-ball keeper Josh Inglis, who was in the 13-man squad for Perth, to make his Test debut as a batter in the top six.

But his remark confirms Cameron Bancroft’s drought-breaking Sheffield Shield century for Western Australia on Tuesday will not be rewarded with a call-up.

After an extraordinary struggle to start this season cost him a return to the Test side, he was out for a golden duck on the first ball of the match against South Australia on Saturday but hit a patient century in the second innings.

Labuschagne is the batter facing the most questions but, having already been backed to retain his spot by captain Pat Cummins, received more support from McDonald.

The former No.1-ranked Test batter’s decline continued in Perth after he fell for scores of two and three, unsuccessfully burning a review when he was lbw in each innings.

Labuschagne is averaging just 24 this year and his last century came in July 2023.

“When we’ve seen him at his best he’s shown great intent at the crease,” McDonald said.

“That’s an ongoing discussion and that ebbs and flows in players’ careers, so at the moment he’s in one of those patches and no doubt he’ll be getting critiqued externally.

“But internally we’re really confident that, at his best, he’s the player that we need.

“We’re really confident he can turn that around.”

Next week’s second Test returns the day-night clash to Adelaide following last year’s detour to Brisbane.

The Aussies have never been beaten with the pink ball at Adelaide Oval and bowled out India for 36 there four years ago — small comforts for this year’s side.

“We’ve played pink ball well traditionally there and, look, we’re going to have to,” Head said.

“There’s no hiding behind that, we’ve got to come back and play better.

“Nothing’s guaranteed in this game but if we work hard, no reason why we can’t turn it around.”

- with AAP