Travel schedule could change after ODI series belting
Cricket Australia will consider tailoring the international summer to be more travel-friendly for players after a raft of Test stars rested for the historic ODI series loss against Pakistan.
After winning the first match at the MCG, the 50-over team were then smashed in Adelaide and Perth as Pakistan won their first series in Australia since 2002.
Captain Pat Cummins, as well as fellow Test stars Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne, were all rested for the deciding match at Optus Stadium on Sunday to ready themselves for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar trophy battle against India.
Those players would have been more likely to have featured if the third match had been in Sydney or Brisbane, or even Melbourne.
The first Test begins in Perth on November 22, so Australia’s high-performance staff decided two trips to Western Australia in a week would have been too much.
India are booked to travel to Australia again next summer, for white-ball matches that don’t yet have dates or venues, but they will take place before the 2025-26 Ashes.
“What this schedule has really shone a spotlight on is the travel schedule into such a big series is critical,” CA boss Nick Hockley said on Tuesday.
“This is about thinking ahead and getting players through in the best possible condition.
“As we look to the schedule for next year … we’ll make sure that the travel schedule is optimised so we can continue to put our best possible 11 on the field.”
World Cup-winning captain Michael Clarke blasted the selections during the series, claiming Australia “didn’t care about losing”.
At the same time Australia were losing badly in Perth, Cummins was attending a Coldplay concert on Sunday night with wife Becky.
“You can’t expect the fans to want to come and watch one-day cricket,” Clarke said on his Big Sports Breakfast radio show on Monday.
“If you’re not going to care, we’re not going to care.”
International white-ball matches outside of world cups has been in steady decline due to the sheer amount of cricket in the calendar.
“I feel what’s really important is each of the series have context and meaning,” Hockley said.
“Certainly a big advocate going forward for all series to make sure they count for qualification for world cups.
“We’ve made our position very clear on that to the ICC.
“This was a critical series in preparation for the Champions Trophy coming up, which is now three months away.
“A really disappointing result, and I know that the squad’s very motivated to make amends during the T20 series.
“We go out to win every game and every series.”
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