Former England cricketer and television commentator Alex Hartley says she has been “hung out to dry” by the current England team after she questioned her fitness level.
The former spinner claimed current bowler Sophie Ecclestone turned down a television interview with her ahead of the first Ladies’s Ashes T20 on Monday.
Hartley, who won the World Cup with England in 2017, came out and criticized England’s fitness in October when they suffered an early exit in the T20 World Cup following a shock defeat to the West Indies in Dubai.
He said some of the England players were “letting their team down” with their fitness.
As England slumped to a defeat on Monday that gave Australia an unassailable 8-0 lead in the Ladies’s Ashes, Hartley said Ecclestone had refused to speak to her as the team continued to turn their backs on her.
“The England team have left me hanging: none of them will talk to me on the edge,” Hartley told the BBC Test Match Special.
“The reason I said they weren’t as fit 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 Ashes and World Cups. I’m giving my opinion. and since then the England team has treated me coldly.
“Not everyone has turned their back on me. I don’t want to say that they have all been the same, because that is not the case. Some of the players have been absolutely exceptional: I have spoken to them on “On the street, on the field, anywhere. But some people (coaches, players) literally haven’t looked at me.”
Hartley believes his comments about the team’s fitness have upset coach Jon Lewis and the team, but insists that if it’s not a common fitness issue among the team, the problem must be the “athletics of a few.”
“I have upset them, clearly,” he added.
“Jon Lewis came out and said there is no problem with fitness in his team, there is no problem with fitness in the England environment. “They obviously think I’m completely wrong in my opinion, which is fine, absolutely.” Well, I have a right to my opinions and they have a right to theirs.
“It’s my job to say if I see something that needs to be better, and I did, but I think the way I’ve been treated since then is totally unfair. But they will say that my comments were unfair, so if that is the way our relationship will move forward, then so be it… If health is not an issue, then it is the athleticism of the few, right?”
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