Hyderabad: Australian selector Mark Waugh isn’t happy about length of the ongoing India vs Australia series and felt that this was an ideal time for the players to have some time off, especially with the Ashes ahead.
Australia are gearing up to play the last match of the tour which began on September 17 and which comprised of five ODI’s and three T20I’s.
In an interaction with Sky Sports Radio on Thursday, the former batting great said, “It’s got to be said, it’s not an ideal time to be away from Australia.”
“This series has been a bit spread out. It would have been better probably if it was a week or two shorter,” he also added.
Waugh, who is a part of the selection committee which also has former cricketer Trevor Hohn as interim chairman, Darren Lehmann as coach and Greg Chappell as interim selector also said that the the departures of skipper Steve Smith and fast bowlers Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc from the series were a good thing because they’d have some time to relax and then shift their focuses back on the five-day format.
He said, “Once they get home, they’ll have a little break then they’ll be back focused on red ball cricket, then the Ashes.”
“The players are pretty much used to it; it’s probably more the travelling, flying around.”
Waugh further added, “This one-day tournament and T20 tournament has been to about eight different places, so there’s been a lot of travel. But I think they’re coping pretty well.”