Australia are in the middle of a series of injuries to key players that would have crippled most other international sides and would have seen them throw the towel in by now, the fact they are leading the current ODI series against India 3-2 with two left to play is remarkable.
Peter Siddle and Moises Henriques have become the latest Australian bowlers to be flown home injured from this tour. In Siddle’s case it is more of a precautionary measure, not wanting to aggrevate the stiffness he is feeling in his side ahead of the busy schedule Australia have coming up over the next few months.
They now join Brett Lee, James Hopes and Tim Paine who have already flown home injured from this tour, they had joined the already injured first choice players Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Nathan Bracken and Callum Ferguson who never even made it on this tour in the treatment room.
In total thats nine players that Australia have lost the services of lately. With such a busy period of cricket coming up it could begin to catch up with them later on during the busy schedule coming up throughout the Christmas and new year period.
It is probably not much consolation for Ricky Ponting that Cricket Australia’s chairman Jack Clarke has just said he thinks that there is too much international cricket being currently played.
The fact he has said it is still worth pushing for a less packed future tours programme (FTP) when the current programme expires after 2012 is not much help now but at least someone has noticed the need to tone it down a bit, as usual the silence is defening from the ECB as it usually is on such matters that could lead to a cut in finances.
Sadly if Jack Clarke really means it he will find himself a lone voice dominated by those who hold the purse strings when the new FTP comes out and nothing will really change, not wishing to condemn Clarke but when push comes to shove and the sticky issue of money comes up I’m sure he will suddenly find himself singing from the same hymn sheet as the rest of them.