SYDNEY, Oct 30: Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting on Wednesday said he was ‘offended’ after Mark Taylor blasted his feud with Michael Clarke, saying it should have stayed in the dressing room.

Current skipper Clarke was reportedly furious when he learned ex-captain Ponting’s autobiography, released last week, contained concerns about his then-deputy’s attitude.

The book also offers an unfavourable appraisal of Clarke’s ill-fated relationship with model Lara Bingle, which ended in 2010 when he flew back from a tour of New Zealand to sort out his private life.

Clarke bristled at a press conference on Tuesday when asked for his reaction to Ponting’s comments. “Ricky said that did he? Well, Ricky has my number,” he said.

Ponting reportedly responded that Clarke “won’t read anything in the book that he wouldn’t have known about himself or how I felt about it around the team”.

Taylor, who was captain from 1994 to 1999 and is now a Cricket Australia director, said the players’ differences should have stayed behind closed doors.

“The disappointing thing for me was that this wasn’t left in the change-room and it wasn’t sorted out in the change-room,” he told commercial radio late on Tuesday. “Look, to me it takes two to tango — I reckon Michael Clarke probably could have done more to appease the situation, and from what I’ve seen and read and heard in recent times, there’s no doubt Ricky Ponting could have done more as well.”

Ponting said he was offended by the accusation that he had broken the sanctity of the Australian team change room, claiming the events were already public knowledge.

“I’ve just given my side of it,” he said, adding that he had contacted Clarke on Tuesday and they had made up. “I was actually really offended that Mark would come out and say that I would break what happens in the sanctuary in the change room. That’s not me. I’m not out doing things like this to sell books,” he added. “Australian cricket is dear for me. It’s been my life for 20-odd years.”—AFP