SHANE WATSON insists he ‘‘loves’’ playing cricket for Australia – but stopped short of ruling out international retirement following this week’s disciplinary issues.

Watson, James Pattinson, Mitchell Johnson and Usman Khawaja were all suspended for one match after failing to deliver a presentation, as instructed by coach Mickey Arthur, on the way forward following defeats in the first two Tests of their current tour of India.

Watson subsequently flew home to Australia to be with his pregnant wife and admitted he was ‘‘weighing up his future’’ at Test level.

And he told reporters: ‘‘This will give me a time to be able to reflect on what’s happened and have a think about where things are at.

‘‘I absolutely love playing cricket, I love nothing more than having the opportunity and privilege to be able to represent my country.’’ Watson revealed ‘‘things had sped up’’ as his wife prepares to give birth to their first child, a development he only became aware of after he was suspended.

‘‘When I told her that things had changed with my selection, she let me know that things had certainly sped up,’’ he said.

‘‘She wasn’t going to let me know that because she knew how much it meant to me to be able to play in the Test match.

‘‘In the end, that is the reason why I’m home.’’ Former captain Kim Hughes suggested the decision over whether to continue in Tests should be taken out of Watson’s hands.

‘‘If Shane Watson has to think about his position, that tells you more about him than anything else and maybe we’re better off bringing forward a younger kid that wants it,’’ Hughes said.

‘‘I’d give him the marching orders tomorrow.

‘‘He spends more time being rotated than a rotisserie, he gets paid millions of dollars and sure, his wife is having a baby, but if that’s the way he’s thinking then he should go and play IPL. The sooner we get rid of him the better if he is having to think about it.’’ Captain Michael Clarke hopes the punishment serves to ensure there will be no repeatof the failure of the players to respond to their coach’s request. He said: ‘‘To me not only is it disrespecting the team, not handing this information in, but it’s disrespecting the head coach – unacceptable at any level.’’