Players too busy to sharpen skills against spinners

A PACKED international schedule is to blame for Australia’s subcontinental woes.

As Australia reels from a Test series whitewash in Sri Lanka, former Test opening batsman Matthew Hayden fears a lack of preparation on turning wickets will harm our chances of making amends during next year’s Indian tour.

The tour will come immedi- ately after the Australian summer finishes with a series of limited-overs matches, a situation Hayden believes has contributed to the Test side’s losing streak in Asia.

“I feel sorry for the players,” Hayden told Triple M’s Grill Team yesterday.

“They are just constantly going into tournaments now. They have got no time to have set plays within their game.”

Hayden swept his way to a record 549 runs at an average of 109.8 in Australia’s losing campaign in India in 2001.

He believes it was his attendance at an Indian spin camp in 1995 and time out of the Australian side from 1997 to 2000 that allowed him to build his game against the tweakers.

“I might not have had the most perfect game against spin,” he said. “But I had something that worked and I knew it. So when I went there in 2001 I had it sorted.”

Except for the April-May IPL season, Australian teams have figured in one form of the game every month since November. Cricket Australia says the jammed schedule is one of the issues in developing play- ers for turning conditions and will continue to shift Australia A series to the subcontinent.

“These are longer-term plans that are going to be set up for the future,” CA high performance manager Pat Howard said. “We’ve got to look at the short-term, but continue with the medium and longterm of having adaptable players.”