England’s Graeme Swann asks boards to shave away those few games a year that don’t matter - Cricket
England’s ace spinner, Graeme Swann, wants less travelling and a fewer amounts of games for his side in the future because he believes that the hectic schedule of cricket tournaments is becoming unbearable for cricketers all over the world.
Swann, who is with his family these days, insisted there was a need for cricket boards to formulate a strategy to reduce the work load on the players.
He admitted that being a spinner and coming to bat lower down the order he did not bear the brunt of too much cricket as compared to the fast bowlers in his team. “You only have to look at Stuart Broad, who keeps himself as fit as anyone, yet his body just couldn’t handle the amount of cricket over 12 months. He broke down over the Ashes and broke down during the World Cup,” he said.
Swann who played an important role in England’s Ashes victory this year in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 against the Aussies insisted that the Australian tour was especially nerve wrecking for the English as physically and mentally the players had to give their 100 percent, which at times was difficult for them.
The player, who has been playing cricket since he was a five-year-old, revealed that there were times during the last few months when he absolutely hated the sight of his cricket kit and the thought of going through the hectic training drill. “At times you really do lose your love for the game because it just feels like you are on a treadmill,” he said.
England almost had a six month long tour of Australia where they managed to retain the Ashes and defeat the Aussies in Australia after 24 years. However, later the Aussies avenged their Ashes debacle by smacking a humiliating defeat to the English in the One-Day series.
After the Australian tour, the English only had a few days to see their families before embarking on their ICC World Cup 2011 campaign. The tournament was jointly hosted by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747.
England lost their main players to injury during the mega event and were left with a few players to choose from in the middle of the tournament. Strike bowler http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ajmal-Shahzad-c42489 and Stuart Broad were ousted from the tournament because of injuries. Pacer James Anderson was also not hundred percent fit. While the bad boy of English cricket, all-rounder Kevin Pietersen, also had to return home before the knock-out stage due to a hernia problem.
During the tournament Pietersen had admitted that most of the players were home sick and wanted to spend some time with their families.
England were ousted from the ICC World Cup 2011 in the quarter-final by co-hosts Sri Lanka.
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