SYDNEY, February 5: Australian captain Mark Taylor has denied reports that some players may boycott the Indian tour because of a lack of progress in negotiations with the Australian Cricket Board (ACB). ``That is not true. I think everyone is looking forward to going to India and I certainly haven't heard anything along those lines,'' the ABC radio quoted him as saying.Earlier, it had been reported that the Indian tour could be in jeopardy with leading cricketers considering a boycott unless their stalled talks with the ACB on pay and conditions resumed soon.The Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA), which has been negotiating with the ACB on behalf of the players, first mooted the idea of a strike in November last year, but the ACA executive - mostly Test players - called it off, believing it would be a public relations disaster.Yesterday, the ACA also called for an overhaul of short One-day international tours like the four-game New Zealand tour for which Australian team leaves today.Thecall came in the wake of yesterday's decision to withdraw champion spinner Shane Warne from the touring team. ``Our hope for the future is, players' welfare is taken into more consideration when tours like this are planned,'' the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper quoted ACA president Tim May as saying.``This sort of scheduling needs to be put under the microscope,'' he said. The paper said today the tour, essentially a diplomatic favour to New Zealand by the ACB was one of four ad hoc One-day tournaments of dubious meaning for Australia this year.The others are a nine-day tour of Sharjah, which follows the forthcoming Indian tour, the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur in September and a tour to Bangladesh tacked onto the Pakistan Test tour in October. ``If it wasn't such a busy season, the players wouldn't have a problem with these tours,'' May said, adding ``but when they're going through as many full Test tours as they are at the moment, they deserve a break.''``Small tours like this becomefrustrating, because the best players are often injured. It certainly wouldn't hurt him (Warne).''``If you look at this game, I don't think he turned the ball as far as, say, Stuart Macgill did, and that's just through tiredness there's no doubt about that,'' the ABC radio quoted him.Meanwhile, former Australian opener Michael Slater is keen to find a slot in the team touring India, saying he would like to be on the plane when the team leaves for India.
