Sydney, Mar 12: Shane Watson challenged Australia’s team performance manager Pat Howard to research his reputation as a team man among cricketers around the country and denied he had any major problems with the captain Michael Clarke on his early return home from the India tour.
Having left Chandigarh to spend time with his pregnant wife following his dumping from the team for the third Test alongside James Pattinson, Mitchell Johnson and Usman Khawaja, Watson declared Howard did not know him or the game well enough to make the contention that he only “sometimes” does the best thing for the team.
“All I can really say is go around and ask every person I’ve ever played cricket with and that will give you the best indication of whether I’m a team man or not,” Watson said at Sydney airport. “Pat Howard doesn’t particularly know me very well. He’s come from a rugby background and hasn’t been in and around cricket very long. I think the best people to ask are the people I’ve played cricket with and they’ll be able to give their honest opinion.”
As for Clarke, of whom Howard said he and Watson had to “sort their issues out”, the vice-captain insisted their relationship was strong. Watson also revealed he had spoken to Clarke immediately after landing in Australia following the airing of Howard’s comments.
“The way relationships work, there’s always ups and downs like there is in marriages, friendships and everything,” Watson said of Clarke. “I’ve been playing cricket with and against Michael Clarke since I was 12. We’ve got a lot of history as people. We’re obviously quite different people in certain ways but very very similar in a lot of ways as well.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 12 Mar 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 12 Mar 2013 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:00:00 IST