London: International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Malcolm Speed said on Monday the volume of international matches had gone about as far as it can go following a meeting here at Lord's with eight of cricket's 10 Test captains.
Fears over player burn-out were the number one item on the captains' agenda as they sat down for their annual meeting with the world game's senior administrators. And they were all the more timely following Sunday's announcement by Graham Thorpe that he was becoming the latest player to scale down his international commitments. The England batsman announced his retirement from One-day cricket in order to keep himself fit for Tests and so he could spend more time with his children. "He's probably tired of it," said Pakistan captain Waqar Younis, himself a veteran of 237 One-day Internationals and once a teammate of Thorpe's at Surrey. Speed admitted it would be "difficult to fit in any more games" in what was already a crowded schedule. "Ideally no more than 14 Tests and 25 One-dayers might be achievable," said Speed explaining how many games each major cricket nation ought to play in a 12-month period. Meanwhile New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming, who called for an end to back-to-back One-day Internationals, said that cricket chiefs had to appreciate the demands they were making on players. "We raised concerns about the amount of time between games and we relate a lot of that to the injuries, the stresses and strains players are suffering. If the volume of cricket is going to remain at this level then there has to be a little more care on that side of things. "We appreciate that the marketing side of the game is very important. And the volume of cricket is very important. By reducing it we reduce the amount of income into countries in the game. "It's a catch 22 of course. We understand that in professional sport there are going to be sacrifices. "But we also want the ICC to be aware and share our concerns, if there are any about the amount of cricket being played," Fleming added. Speed said the captains' had asked the ICC to go back to its individual member boards and look at the possibility of having fixed two to three week breaks or even designated six week intervals without any international matches. But the Australian, who said he was not aware of domestic matches anywhere in the world making money, added, "ICC doesn't have the power to say this is where we've drawn the line in the sand." Speed said that schedules were a matter for discussion between individual member nations and added some expansion was inevitable given the recent elevation of nations such as Zimbabwe and Bangladesh to Test status. But he insisted the international programme for the next year agreed at the ICC's executive board meeting here a fortnight ago would not place undue burdens on the world's best cricketers. "Yes players will be playing more cricket but there will be no rapid growth."
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