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CA to address player concerns
29/02/2008 09:26 - (SA)
Melbourne - Cricket Australia officials are to hold a summit with the country's top players to address growing dissatisfaction with the ruling body.
The Australian newspaper reported on Friday that a "summit" would be held at the conclusion of the current tri-series with India and Sri Lanka following an international season packed with controversy.
CA spokesperson Peter Young confirmed a meeting would take place, although he said the exact timing was yet to be confirmed.
He played down its significance, saying it was simply an appropriate time for players and officials to come together and discuss the many issues that have dogged them this summer.
"Calling it a summit is perhaps overstating it all," he said. "We and the players are proposing to catch up soon after this series is finished. We think it is an appropriate time to reflect on where we are going."
Outspoken Australian batsman Matthew Hayden has voiced his displeasure with CA for being reprimanded under its code of conduct for calling Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh an "obnoxious little weed."
Spirit of cricket
"It saddens me that my employer has to discipline me for my behaviour," he told the Daily Telegraph newspaper in comments published on Friday.
"I can see that my comments were insensitive but they were not intended to be denigrating and especially not contrary to the spirit of cricket.
"The cricket environment I have grown up with is probably a little bit different from today."
The Australian Cricketers' Association backed Hayden, chief executive Paul Marsh saying he was disappointed the batsman was punished for expressing his personal opinion.
Several Australian players had previously voiced unhappiness with CA after they believed a deal was brokered to allow Harbhajan's three-match suspension for alleged racial abuse to be overturned during their Test series.
The Australian newspaper reported that Australian captain Ricky Ponting was concerned players from the warring sides were not being treated equally.
"Matty says that and they (Indian players) have got all sorts of comments again through the newspapers, a lot of which have no fact or truth in them whatsoever, but that's what we've had to deal with right the way through the summer," Ponting said.
Controversy
He said that the Hayden hearing had affected the opener's preparation for Friday's clash with Sri Lanka at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
With bad blood with India, the uncertainty over a tour of Pakistan and the controversy over the Indian Premier League, Ponting said it had been the most difficult season he could remember.
Young, speaking to The Australian, played down any rift.
"It's fair to say that from time to time, even in the best of families, there are disagreements on issues," he said.
"But I think the nine other Test-playing nations would give their right arm to have the relationship we have with our playing group.
"Part of the strength of the relationship is that we do have the ability to argue about things. We have in the past and we will in the future."
- AFP
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