Concerns over summer of cricket

FORMER Australian cricketer Gavin Robertson has voiced his concerns about how the current summer of cricket is being scheduled.

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.

He said players were “lost” jumping from red ball to white ball cricket so quickly, lamenting the lack of consistency across the schedule.

“We have very different opinions of how the season should run and how it would best for (all forms of cricket),” he said on SEN Mornings.

“If you’re 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’s no way known that’s the answer.

“You’re seeing the mindset of batsman where they get lost in games and their form is indifferent, because they haven’t been focused (on a specific format) and just going from game to game.

“The consistency is not there; we’re not getting consistency of performance.”

Robertson, who confirmed he hasn’t spoken to Cricket Australia directly about his concerns, said he was open to offering his help to solve the current scheduling issues.

“I haven’t spoken to Cricket Australia, but if they want me to line up 20 people just give me a 48-hour period and you’d be genuinely surprised,” he said.

“They very much care about cricket in Australia and its reputation, but also how they got there (in the game). They don’t want to forget how they got there – do they want to see that die and the answer to that is no.”

– BY LAURENCE ROSEN/SEN