Alex Hartley: Former England spinner turned TV presenter says team ‘hung me out to dry’ after fitness comments | Cricket news
Former England cricketer and TV pundit Alex Hartley says she was “left out to dry” by the current England team after she doubted their fitness.
The former spinner claimed current bowler Sophie Ecclestone refused a TV interview with her ahead of the first Women’s Ashes T20 on Monday.
Hartley, who won the 2017 World Cup with England, spoke out and criticized England’s fitness back in October when they crashed out of the T20 World Cup early after a shock defeat to the West Indies in Dubai.
She said some England players “let their team down” with their fitness.
As England slumped to a defeat that handed Australia an elusive 8-0 lead in the women’s Ashes on Monday, Hartley said Ecclestone refused to speak to her as the team continued to “give her a cold reception”.
“The England team hung me out to dry: none of them will talk to me on the touchline,” Hartley told BBC Test Match Special.
“The reason I said they’re not as ready as Australia is because I want them to compete with Australia, I want them to be better than Australia and I want them to win the Ashes and the World Cup. I give my opinion, and since then I’ve been cold-heartedly accepted by the England team.
“Not everyone accepted me coldly. I don’t want to say that everyone was the same, because they weren’t. Some of the players were absolutely outstanding: I talked to them on the street, on the field, anywhere, but a few individuals – coaches, players – literally they didn’t even look at me.”
Hartley believes her comments about the squad’s fitness upset head coach Jon Lewis and the squad, but insists that if it’s not a general fitness issue in the squad, it must be the “athleticism of a few”.
“Obviously I upset them,” she added.
“Jon Lewis has come out and said there’s no fitness problem in his squad, there’s no fitness problem in the England environment. They obviously think I’m completely wrong in my opinion – which is fine, absolutely fine, I have the right to their opinion, and they to theirs.
“It’s my job to say if I see something that needs to be improved, and I have, but the way I’ve been treated since then I think is completely unfair. But they’re going to say my comments were unfair, so if that’s the way our relationship to move forward, so be it… If fitness is not a problem, then it is the athletic spirit of a few, right?”
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