Angry Australia players reject family accusations

Australia's cricketers have responded angrily to suggestions that the presence of their partners and children on tour contributed to the team's loss of the Ashes.

Members of the team have been incensed by stories written back home that depict their families as unnecessary distractions during the contest against England, and rejected outright the contention that they somehow brought on the team's poor batting displays in the Edgbaston and Trent Bridge Tests that effectively surrendered the Ashes to Alastair Cook's team.

The retiring captain Michael Clarke described allegations published in News Limited Group newspapers as "a load of shit" in a radio interview, while Mitchell Johnson singled out the Daily Telegraph columnist Rebecca Wilson in a series of tweets after reading a piece that claimed, among other things, that partners "all travel with them the entire time they are away".

"I've never had a conversation with this Rebecca Wilson so to be called 'arrogant' is arrogant on her behalf and disrespectful!" Johnson said. "Also saying we spend every second of the day with our family is incorrect and none of her business anyway but if she wants to know, ask my wife and little girl that question. You are well off the mark Rebecca Wilson. Stick to writing about the game thanks!"

The theme of questioning the players' partners was begun by the former vice-captain Ian Healy before the Trent Bridge Test was over. Healy wondered whether it was right for the team to have the partners on the tour before the Ashes series was decided.

Players and staff have been prepared to face criticism for cricket reasons, and have in some cases openly admitted fault, whether it be Darren Lehmann conceding ground on selections, Clarke speaking about his dire batting in the series or Steven Smith talking about where he had failed to learn swiftly enough to stay ahead of England's bowlers. However the family accusations have struck a raw nerve. David Warner, who started his relationship with his wife Candice during the 2013 Ashes tour, offered a reasoned view.

"I spoke to Ian Healy the other day about it," he said. "I don't think they quite understand at the moment that your partner is probably not going to come to India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka… just purely based on because if you've got a young kid, probably not the right environment to take your kid there and little bugs and things can happen. Like with the South African A team at the moment.

"But my take is I love having my family on tour. I think everyone out there knows that when you go to work on a day to day basis, when you come home to your family it's a great thing and that always keeps me smiling. The other day we had a bad day, we went in the change rooms, we all spoke about it, we got over it, came home and we have our families here and we're all down together playing with our kids in the foyer. It's fantastic to have them along."

As for further accusations of disunity in the tour party, Warner offered a realistic view of things. No cricket team is ever entirely free of problems, but it is up to the touring squad to sort out such issues before they escalate too far. The 2013 tour of India and its "Homeworkgate" episode provides an example of things getting out of hand and an overreaction arriving too late in the piece.

"Not everyone is going to see eye to eye on a long tour. There's going to be the odd hiccup here and there but you just deal with it," Warner said. "That's what happens in the work environment. You're not going to get along with everyone, so you've just got to work out a way to make sure that does not disrupt anything going forward. And in our camp at the moment there's nothing there that has been disruptive.

"The way we've prepared for this whole series and on the back of the Caribbean, yes, we are disappointed about this series obviously, but we've got one Test to go. There's definitely no rift in the team at all. At the end of the day, when people aren't performing, I think some stories get leaked that the players aren't talking to each other and this and that. But definitely in our camp, we're as strong as we always are and we're always going to do whatever we can to get back into the winning position."

The Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) chief executive Alistair Nicholson said the family travel periods were a more than reasonable support service for players who often spent more than two thirds of the year away from home. Cricket Australia (CA) allows for allotted time during home series for partners and families to spend time with the team without cost, while the ACA organises the same overseas.

"Having families on tour is an important part of the support network for players, particularly with three forms of the game and year-round travel," Nicholson said. "Overseas campaigns can be brutal and while players understand that it is part and parcel of what they do, the relatively short periods they spend with their families and partners [on tour] has a positive impact on their well-being.

"The official overseas travel periods are negotiated as part of the MOU and paid for by the players from the Player Payment Pool [money that CA passes on to the players as their share of game revenue]. The support provided to them is valued highly.

"There are two official visitors' periods: one as part of the Australian team's overseas schedule [funded by ACA] and one at home [funded by CA]. The latter runs over the Melbourne and Sydney Tests, coinciding with the Christmas and New Year's periods, respectively. This is obviously an important time for families to be together."