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Calling the planned India-Australia-Pakistan tri-nation One-day International (ODI) cricket series in Abu Dhabi a “money making exercise”, the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) President Paul Marsh has advised the country’s board against planning any such event ahead of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Champions Trophy in future.

“Coming off a good break, we probably need something heading into the Champions Trophy this year. But we see a series such as this as fitting under that ‘meaningless tournament’ bracket,” Mash was quoted by Sydney Morning Herald as saying. “Going into the future, why would they need to be playing it other than as a money-making exercise?” he questioned.

Marsh said the Ashes would remain the top priority for the (Australian) players no matter what Cricket Australia (CA) said but added Players’ Association was also against mass resting of the players. “It is a shame that players have to miss games for Australia as schedule is too heavy. But if they are saying they need to be missing these games leading into the Ashes, then CA needs to listen to them. If you ask any player, the Ashes would be a higher priority than the Champions Trophy and those other events.”

The ACA chief said it would be better to review the international scheduling instead of resting players. “We don’t believe resting players is a long-term answer here,” he said adding, “We believe in reducing number of games and putting adequate space between games.”

The planned tri-series, likely to be held in September-October before the Champions Trophy is still being worked out with the tournament dates yet to be finalised.

Source: The News

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