London, Apr 9: To prevent players suffering the sort of nervous breakdown experienced by English opener Marcus Trescothick, Wisden has asked the England and Wales Cricket Board to reduce the amount of cricket being played by the national team.

“The word suffer is used too often in cricket but in his autobiography Trescothick was entitled to use it in describing much of what he endured as an England player,” writes Scyld Berry in his editor’s notes for the new edition of the Wisden Almanack.

“Why do England cricketers spend so much time on the road and at airports? In every Test-playing country the domestic structure has to be subsidised by the international team, but it is a question of degree: the England team generates about 80 per cent of the annual revenue of English cricket, mostly through the broadcasting deal with Sky, and more than half of that income goes to the 18 counties.”

The Telegraph quoted Berry as saying that longer duration of international cricket is enough to drive anyone to distraction, especially as there are not enough games to keep players busy while touring.

The team captains feel the impact intensely: Kevin Pietersen, for instance, admitted that he was exhausted after just six weeks in the job, he adds.

The new Wisden, which is published on Thursday, also calls for county cricket to give up its reliance on the foreign-born cricketers, mostly from the southern hemisphere, who dominate so much of the domestic game. (ANI)