Brad Haddin has expressed regret over his controversial comments following the Cricket World Cup final, but there appeared no regrets over his role in sledging the Black Caps.
He apologised for a drunken radio interview in which he explained the reasoning for his overzealous behaviour in Australia's seven-wicket win.
The apology came as a picture of a seemingly hungover Australia team was widely shared (and ridiculed) on the social news site Reddit (app users tap here to see the full photo).
"We were celebrating a World Cup win and enjoying ourselves after a long tournament," Haddin said in a statement on Cricket Australia's website. "In hindsight, we should have stayed off the radio. If I offended anyone, it was never my intention."
READ MORE
• John Dybvig: Quit moaning about the Australians
• Kiwi nemesis Haddin set to retire from ODIs
• Aussie media attacks 'insufferably arrogant' players
Haddin's comments were widely ridiculed following the interview, which came the morning's after Australia's triumph. Asked about the send-offs received by Martin Guptill, Grant Elliott and Dan Vettori, Haddin outlined just why he had been so exuberant at their dismissals.
"You know what? They deserved it," he said on Triple M. "They were that nice to us in New Zealand [during their match in the pool stages] 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.' 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]. And I'm not going to play another one-day game so they can suspend me for as long as they like.'"
The behaviour of the Australia team, even before Haddin's comments, was seen by the cricket community as out of line, with critical views aired on social media and in prominent Australian newspapers.
Commenters on Reddit pointed out that the "hungover" picture seems directly related to Shane Warne's bizarre post-final questions about how thirsty the players were.