Meaningless cricket being played by countries: Hayden

Sydney, Nov 21(ANI): Former Australian batsman Matthew Hayden and Cricket Australia board member has said that cricket is being overplayed and undervalued around the world.

Hayden's comment comes after the tedious seven-match series Australia recently played against India and England, including which the world champions played a record 40 one-day matches this year.

"I don't buy this 'more is better' mentality. We should have an obsession with perfection," The Australian quoted Hayden, as saying.

The 36-year-old said that ODI series' should be limited to no more than five games.
Hayden also said that the Future Tours Program being prepared by the International Cricket Council, which will map out in detail the international schedule from 2012 to 2020, would not work in its current format and it would create too many meaningless matches.

"It doesn't matter whether you're in a small town in country Queensland, on the Tiwi Islands playing cricket with indigenous kids or following the Ashes tour in England, the message is always the same. The fans want quality cricket," he added.

He further stressed the need for a World Series to provide a World Test Champion every two years, which would help fulfill the need of meaningful Test cricket.
Hayden has formulated the World Series in a detailed dossier 'The Future of World Cricket' compiled by him.

According to the dossier, eight Test nations would be divided into two groups, with Australia and England in one and India and Pakistan in the other to protect their iconic series.

Three Test matches will be played by each group, and the top two teams in each group would them play semi-finals, followed by a final. This ensures that every game played by each of the eight nations has meaning, and consequence, making for exciting and no doubt dramatic competition, Hayden wrote. (ANI)

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Hayden to discuss academy plans

Matthew Hayden will meet Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) President N Srinivasan on Saturday to discuss his academy's plans.

Hayden said he was getting former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming, his coach at Chennai Super Kings, and ex-India captain Rahul Dravid on board to assist him in running the academy, to be set up on the lines of the Australian Institute of Sports.
"I will meet Mr Srinivasan tomorrow (Saturday). Things will take shape after my meeting with him. It will be a full-fledged academy like the one in Australia," Hayden, who is in Chennai to shoot a commercial, said.

"I have been discussing the issue with them (TNCA). We will have Stephen and Rahul to assist in running of the academy. The ultimate goal is to find players who have the potential to play for India and hone their skills to achieve that goal," Hayden added.

TNCA secretary Kasi Visawanathan also confirmed that Hayden would discuss his proposal with Srinivasan, who is also the BCCI secretary.

"It is in the initial stages. We have been having discussions with Hayden on this. He will also witness some of the ongoing first division and other league matches here. He will basically scout for talents," Viswanathan said.

Asked whether the academy would come up, the TNCA official said, "Everything will be finalised after the meeting. As of now, it is only in the proposal stage.
"CSK will definitely have state-of-the art facilities at the academy. Hayden will also have the services of Fleming and Dravid, who is employed with India Cements (of which Srinivasan is the Managing Director).

"It will be a full-fledged set-up on the lines of National Cricket Academy, with trainers, physios and coaches for every aspect of the game. We will also rope in specialists to train fast and spin bowlers besides engaging wicket-keeping coaches," he said.

"It will be within Chennai only. We will also have an academy solely for the district cricketers, who are not part of the city league. The district academy will be set up in Tirunelveli (Thazhayuthu), where we already have excellent facilities with good turf wickets," Viswanathan added.

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