The move to suspend vice-captain Shane Watson, James Pattinson, Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Johnson has polarised opinion in Australia, with commentators calling it one of the most sensational decisions in decades. Watson has since flown home to be with his pregnant wife, hinting he is now considering his future with the national team.Trailing 2-0 in the Test series in India, with the third Test due to have started on Thursday morning, all the players had been told to prepare feedback on how they could improve and were given five days, but four failed to meet the deadline and paid a heavy price.In justifying the decision, captain Michael Clarke had said the players had shown a lack of respect for Arthur, with a general slide in attitudes on the Indian tour. With the retirements of Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey, Australia took a relatively young and inexperienced team to India. The South African coach said management had provided “lots of latitude and flexibility.Arthur said it was the culmination of “lots of small minor indiscretions that have built up to now” and would be looked back on as a “defining moment” for Australian cricket.
When we sat down as a leadership group and made these tough decisions I knew it would polarise public opinion, but internally I certainly know we’ve made the absolute right decision,” Arthur said. “This is a line-in-the-sand moment - a point we’ll look back on in a couple of years’ time when we’re back to No 1 in the world and say was a defining moment.”
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