Mickey Arthurs backs Cricket Australia

South African coach, Micky Arthur, has said that he backed the Cricket Australia in asking some of the cricketers to not participate in the Indian Premier League and take adequate rest before the ICC World T20 which then gets followed by the Ashes. Arthur has said that he would have almost done the same thing had it been South Africa playing a series as important as the Ashes, and hence he backed their decision.

He said that there are injury risks for personnel involved in the tournament, but the situation was different for South Africa then it was for Australia. Speaking to a cricket website, he said, “There is an element of risk in having so many of our World Twenty20 players playing in the IPL, but the key lies in what happens after.” Australia goes on to play the Ashes, where the Proteas would be on a two-month break and without any international commitments.

South Africa has 12 players participating in the IPL of their 15-member squad, behind only India which has all its 15, and followed by Sri Lanka which has 11 cricketers in the IPL. > Cricket Australia had earlier pulled out three its cricketers, Shane Watson, James Hopes and Nathan Bracken from playing in the IPL, because they were deemed to be a trifle under-fit by the team doctor. Watson was to represent the Rajasthan Royals, Hopes was to play for Punjab where as Bracken was to play for Bangalore.