Brad Haddin: New Zealand being nice made me uncomfortable

Brad Haddin (L) in his comfort zone

Brad Haddin came under huge criticism during yesterday’s ICC Cricket World Cup final between Australia and New Zealand. The Australian wicket-keeper was constantly chirping away at New Zealand batsmen and even gave a send-off to Grant Elliot when the Kiwi batsman was dismissed.

On a talk show with Australian radio station Triple M, when asked about why he did all the sledging when the New Zealand cricketers weren’t responding, the 37-year-old is supposed to have said: "You know what? They deserved it."

Haddin’s reasoning behind why the Blackcaps deserved his wrath seems to be even more absurd. He apparently said that being ‘nice’ isn’t something that goes well with him and that he had informed the entire Australian team on what he had in store for the final.

"They were that nice to us in New Zealand and we were that uncomfortable. I said in the team meeting: 'I can't stand for this anymore, we're going at them as hard as we can.'

"It was that uncomfortable. All they were was that nice to us for seven days. I said, 'I'm not playing cricket like this. If we get another crack at these guys in the final I'm letting everything [out],'" he added.

In the end, Australia won the match by 7 wickets and were crowned world champions for the fifth time.