FORMER Australian cricketer Gavin Robertson has voiced his concerns about how the current summer of cricket is being scheduled.<\/p>\n
On the back of a shock home series loss to India earlier this year and then followed up by a T20 series away loss to New Zealand, Robertson said splitting first-class cricket into two blocks with the Big Bash League season being played during December and January was hurting the development of players.<\/p>\n
He said players were \u201clost\u201d jumping from red ball to white ball cricket so quickly, lamenting the lack of consistency across the schedule.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have very different opinions of how the season should run and how it would best for (all forms of cricket),\u201d he said on SEN Mornings.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re playing four and a half weeks of Sheffield Shield cricket, then you stop and then you play 10 weeks of BBL and then you play another five weeks of Shield cricket, are you seriously considering that nine weeks (of first-class cricket) a year is enough? That\u2019s no way known that\u2019s the answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re seeing the mindset of batsman where they get lost in games and their form is indifferent, because they haven\u2019t been focused (on a specific format) and just going from game to game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe consistency is not there; we\u2019re not getting consistency of performance.”<\/p>\n
Robertson, who confirmed he hasn\u2019t spoken to Cricket Australia directly about his concerns, said he was open to offering his help to solve the current scheduling issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t spoken to Cricket Australia, but if they want me to line up 20 people just give me a 48-hour period and you\u2019d be genuinely surprised,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey very much care about cricket in Australia and its reputation, but also how they got there (in the game). They don\u2019t want to forget how they got there \u2013 do they want to see that die and the answer to that is no.\u201d<\/p>\n
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