Time to cut down for players?

Recent high profile cases of what appear to be player burn out (Marcus Trescothick and Shahid Afridi) have led some to call for a major cut back on the amount of international games played.

But do we need to cut back on the amount of games played, or the amount of games played by individual players?

Allow me to explain.

In the recent World Baseball Classic tournament, pitchers were limited to a strict pitch count, ie. they could only pitch a certain amount of times in each game, and couldn’t play two games in a row. I think something similar to this could be implemented in cricket.

With teams shoe-horning extra fixtures into nearly every gap created by the FTP, and the increasing trend to play back-to-back tests, without tour games inbetween to gave players a rest, means that player burn-out could become a serious issue in future.

I say the ICC should introduce a playing condition that states how much international cricket a player can play each year. Don’t limit the amount of matches, but the number of days, wether in Tests or ODIs. Something around 70 should be fine, limiting a player to, for example, 10 tests and 20 ODIs in each year. A Twenty20 game would count as half a day.

Rules should also be introduced to ensure that players get sufficient time off. Let’s say if a player plays more than half his quota in a 6 month period, he then gets a month away from cricket.

I think rules similar to this, if properly implemented, could reduce the issue of player burn out, and help keep the quality of the game at a high level.

Sex shop sponsor “not cricket”

The BBC are reporting that Southport Trinity Cricket Club have been threatened with expulsion from the Liverpool and District cricket league after agreeing a sponsorship deal with the Nice ‘n’ Naughty chain of sex shops.

Apparantly, the league (which is sponsored by a gambling firm - very cricket) approved the deal, and then backtracked after pressure from the ECB.

So, gambling, which has led to match fixing, is fine, but sex, which leads to new cricket players, isn’t.

Ponting changes his mind again

Via Cricinfo who report that Ponting now thinks that Bangladesh do deserve test status, after he said in February that they didn’t.

Strangely he changed his mind when talking at a press conference in Bangladesh.

Last year there were 3 instances of Ponting changing his mind.

Prior to the ICC Trophy, he sent a letter to the participating teams wishing them good luck and saying that he looked forward to playing them in the World Cup. Later, he said that the World Cup wasn’t the place for those teams.

When the super-subs and powerplays were introduced, Ponting said that they were a good idea. He soon changed his mind. He did the same over the issue of the Super Series.

He says one thing, and then when the people who might be annoyed by what he says aren’t within earshot, he says another. He’s a hypocrite.