Oz cricket players to meet to discuss 'rising concerns' over sport in country

A meeting of almost every state and Test cricket player will take place in Sydney next week to discuss rising concerns with the state of Australian cricket and propose solutions to the problems.

According to The Australian, this will then be presented to Cricket Australia before the end of the year.

The recommendations will be included in what amounts to a player-driven Argus report as questions arise about the effectiveness of the implementation of that review, which was delivered in 2011, the report said.

The players are particularly worried about the overcrowded schedule, the prioritisation of the Big Bash League over Sheffield Shield and other domestic cricket plus a range of other issues they believe are behind declining performances, the report added.

Current one-day captain George Bailey was reprimanded last week for expressing concerns about domestic cricket scheduling and was supported by former Victorian captain Cameron White, who spoke out on Monday about the reduction in one-day games and the compressed Sheffield Shield season, the report further said.

Players are upset that the Big Bash tournament takes up too much time in the schedule and has forced the Shield and Ryobi Cups into segregated timeslots, according to the report.

Beyond that, the cricketers are concerned that the Test team is performing poorly and that the talent streams have not produced replacements for the great players who have retired in recent years, the report mentioned.