Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland says Michael Clarke’s side will simply have to adjust to the late playing hours and 40-degree heat of Sharjah for their upcoming series against Pakistan.
Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland says Michael Clarke’s side will simply have to adjust to the late playing hours and 40-degree heat of Sharjah for their upcoming series against Pakistan.
Australia will play a one-day international against Afghanistan in Sharjah on August 25, followed by three ODIs and three Twenty20 matches against Pakistan in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
The ODI matches in Sharjah and Abu Dhabi won’t finish until almost 2am local time, in a bid to avoid the hottest part of the day.
“It’ll be hot but the sun’s not going to be shining and that’s probably the really important factor there,” Sutherland said.
“In terms of the hours, it’s not ideal but at the same time it’s just an adjustment that the players will need to adjust to. It’s the same for both teams.
“There are many people in the world who work different hours and these will be different hours for our players, unconventional hours for cricket perhaps.
“But the game’s only going a couple of hours later than it would ordinarily so I’m not sure that adjustment is really that significant.”
Pakistan have been forced to host series outside of their home country because of security concerns in recent years.
However, international cricket has never been held in the UAE in the August-September period which is the hottest time of the year in the country.
Australian Cricketers’ Association chief Paul Marsh says he’s not particularly comfortable with aspects of the tour. “We’re concerned about the heat and we’re not comfortable with the playing hours,” Marsh said earlier this month.
“There are issues there with the players playing sport at that time of night. How aware are players going to be?
“Are there any safety issues of playing sport at that time of the night? If you’re standing there facing someone bowling at 150 kilometres an hour, are you going to be more tired at that time of day than you (otherwise) would be?”
Marsh said the tour had been put on for commercial reasons, not necessarily cricket reasons.
“That’s why there’s ongoing frustration from our perspective,” Marsh told the www.cricinfo.com website.
Sutherland also said CA wasn’t comfortable with Australia’s 4-0 ODI series defeat in England.
But he said the development of individual players was a key priority ahead of the really important games which come around every four years. “We’re very conscious of the fact we host a World Cup in 2015 with New Zealand and we want to be ready to give our best and ideally be hosting a final with our team playing,” he said.
