Taylor denies reports

SYDNEY, February 5: Australian captain Mark Taylor has denied reports that some players may boycott the Indian tour because of a lack of pro...

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. 8220;That is not true. I think everyone is looking forward to going to India and I certainly haven8217;t heard anything along those lines,8221; 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 Cricketers8217; 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 8212; mostly Test players 8212; 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 yesterday8217;s decision to withdraw champion spinner Shane Warne from the touring team. 8220;Our hope for the future is, players8217; welfare is taken into more consideration when tours like this are planned,8221; the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper quoted ACA president Tim May as saying.

8220;This sort of scheduling needs to be put under the microscope,8221; 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. 8220;If it wasn8217;t such a busy season, the players wouldn8217;t have a problem with these tours,8221; May said, adding 8220;but when they8217;re going through as many full Test tours as they are at the moment, they deserve a break.8221;

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8220;Small tours like this becomefrustrating, because the best players are often injured. It certainly wouldn8217;t hurt him Warne.8221;

8220;If you look at this game, I don8217;t think he turned the ball as far as, say, Stuart Macgill did, and that8217;s just through tiredness there8217;s no doubt about that,8221; 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.