Australia captain Michael Clarke has rubbished claims of disunity within his squad during their hugely disappointing Ashes tour.
Clarke announced his retirement from international cricket in the wake of the heavy defeat at Trent Bridge, a reverse that saw England confirmed as series winners with one Test still remaining.
The 34-year-old will play the final Test at the Kia Oval on August 20 before bringing the curtain down on a distinguished career.
But his departure has been met by rumblings of off-field unrest in the Australian media, with the Sydney Daily Telegraph claiming there was a long-running feud between the wives of two senior players which caused distractions.
It also claimed Clarke refused to travel on the team bus or socialise with team-mates, while the dropping of popular vice-captain Brad Haddin after time off for family reasons did not go down well.
"There is no disharmony is this group whatsoever. The players are as tight as any team I've been a part of," Clarke told Sydney radio station Triple M in an expletive-laden rant.
"Travelling in different cars. What a load of ****. "I can guarantee you, the feeling in this group is exceptional.
"Wives and girlfriends being on tour is a distraction? What a load of ****. That's absolute garbage. I'll give back 10 of my Test 100s if it wasn't for my beautiful wife.
"At the end of the day the players are the ones who walk onto the field, we have to perform and we haven't performed well enough."
The newspaper had claimed it was "the year-long disintegration in the off-field relationship between Clarke and the rest of the team" that hindered any chance of Ashes success.
"He often chooses to travel by private car instead of the team bus and rarely attends team get-togethers," their report read.
"On the night that he made his decision to step down, team members were stunned when he joined them for a rare drink in the hotel bar, although he ended the night drowning his sorrows with former team-mate Shane Warne rather than any of the current side."
Clarke was also damned in a front-page spread in the Brisbane Courier Mail, who headlined their report on his latest Ashes embarrassment "From loner to loser", provoking a response from a couple of Clarke's former team-mates.
"Today's front page of the @couriermail is the most distastefully poor timed page in a long time," said Queensland all-rounder Ben Cutting on Twitter.
Seamer Ryan Harris, who missed out on the Ashes tour and was forced to retire because of injury, agreed adding: "Well said Cuttsy, couldn't have put it better myself! #norespect."