“It’s taken so out of context and in a negative light,” Maxwell said, responding to the coverage of Hazlewood’s comments. “You’ve never seen a closer bunch of players than the players in the last two years of Australian cricket.”

Maxwell was particularly scathing about the suggestion that Hazlewood’s remarks pointed to a divided dressing room, calling the interpretation “so ridiculous.” He continued: “To draw that assumption from a comment from a No.11 batter saying, ‘You better ask one of the batters’ is so ridiculous. They lose complete and utter credibility.”

According to Maxwell, such interpretations only serve to disincentivise players from speaking openly to the media, a sentiment echoed by his broader criticism of the cricket media’s approach. “There’s a desperation to create controversy, when you’ve got 40 [members of the] cricket media all trying to get a daily story,” he said. “I just think there’s no incentive for players to provide any colour in a response.”

Who said what?

The controversy stems from Hazlewood’s comments during Australia’s heavy loss in the first Test. When asked how the team would approach the following day’s play and what could be done to turn the match around, Hazlewood, the No.11 batter, distanced himself from the discussion about the batters.

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

Hazlewood’s response was used by Fox Cricket the following day to prompt a discussion among commentators Adam Gilchrist, David Warner, Michael Vaughan, and Ravi Shastri about whether there was a rift within the Australian team. Gilchrist remarked,

“That to me tells me there’s potentially a divided change room. I don’t know if that’s the case, I might be reading too much into that,” before opening up the conversation.

This led to further media speculation, with reports from Vaughan and Shastri being critical of both Hazlewood and the Australian team. Fox Cricket posted a segment of this discussion on their official YouTube channel under the headline: “‘Staggering’ Has Hazlewood created divide in Australian locker room? Aussies in crisis mode,” accompanied by a worried face emoji and a red cross.