Ashes 2009 - Players Face Burn Out: Buchanan

Has Australia threatened their Ashes defence to win this year’s Twenty20 World Cup?

That is what former coach John Buchanan believes yet his criticism appears to be unfounded for the bookmakers when it comes to the cricket odds and lines.

Futures betting shows Australia as clear –150 favourites to retain the Ashes, which start on July 8, while England are +200 to win the five test series that begins at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff, Wales.

A drawn series is paying +500.

Buchanan believes that Australia’s top line test players should be rested from the Twenty20 World Cup, his criticism harking back to the days where he instigated the ‘horses for courses’ rotation selection policy that fragmented the Australian cricket public and former players.

At the time, the former coach believed that the number of one dayers being played was severely affecting the quality of test match cricket.

When resting players, he denied a rotation process but said it was ‘horses for courses’, however those in the know realised the burden of the burgeoning cricket calendar would soon take its toll.

With a winning success rate of but rotated front line players despite the fact held a winning success rate of 70 per cent in eight years at the helm of the number one test team in the world, maybe is right.

Australia has named Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Phillip Hughes, Brad Haddin, Shane Watson, Stuart Clark, Simon Katich, Peter Siddle and Mitchell Johnson in the Twenty20 squad when they could be resting these players.

If Australia makes the final on June 21, it means their top players would have less than two weeks to prepare or recover from injuries for the first test.

Not ideal if they want to continue their dominance over the Old Dart.

For England, the current test series against the West Indies has thrown up a few positive signs with number three batsman Ravi Bopara following up his good form in the IPL scoring his second test century and medium pacer Graham Onion ripping through the middle order taking a career best 5/38 including three scalps in an over.

These performances have to be tempered with the West Indies’ notoriously poor form playing in the soft swinging conditions of England.

The home team however have wind in their sails and if they can dominate the West Indies ahead of Australia’s arrival, their self-confidence, buoyed by bulldog media coverage, will give them a belief they can do what they did in 2005 and beat the unbeatable.