Thaindian News

London, April 26 (IANS) England’s opening batsman Alastair Cook has denied making statements that cricketers can go on strike to protest against the heavy schedule, but said that it was time the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) changed the schedule “before it all becomes meaningless”.

Last week Cook, vice-captain of Test team, was quoted as saying: “We can go on strike, which is not recommended, but at some stage it will have to change. I feel sorry for the lads. I have been pretty much the only one who’s been able to play and to enjoy the experience of winning because of the schedule.”

But later denying the statement, Cook said he didn’t mean the word strike.

“I didn’t mean to use the word ’strike’. It’s not what I meant. It was a misunderstanding and it’s been blown out of proportion. In fact, there’s nothing further from our minds as a team,” Cook was quoted as saying by The Metro.

The 26-year-old sympathised with the players who play in all formats of the game as they hardly get a break due to continuous cricket.

“We always talk about playing too much cricket - just look at this winter in Australia and then the World Cup, it’s a problem. There is talk among us as a team that something needs to be done to reduce the amount of cricket we play but we have never ever mentioned striking, it’s just not on the agenda.

“It has to change before it all becomes meaningless. As players we don’t have much power. We keep on saying that we play too much cricket. I have been saying this since I was 18 and I’m now 26, but we cram more and more games in,” he said.