'I think a lot of these players don’t remember having fun on a cricket field,' the Analyst tells the Betway Insider Podcast
Listen to Simon Hughes discussing why too many demands are placed on modern cricketers
I think there are too many demands on the modern cricketer.
The problem for the modern player – like Joe Root, who plays in all formats of the game – is that there’s no downtime.
There’s no relaxation that, say, playing for Yorkshire, which can be quite enjoyable.
With a little less pressure – you can actually get back to enjoying your cricket which is how you started out playing that sport.
And that’s where the intensity and the relentlessness of the modern international schedule is a problem. I think a lot of these players don’t remember having fun on a cricket field.
Everything is part of a tournament, they have to perform, there’s so much build-up to it and expectation and, therefore, stress.
You can go to South Africa for two-and-a-half months, but it’s not going on safari and lying on the beach.
I was there twice over the winter and I never saw Root anywhere near a beach. He would have been practising virtually every day.
They’d go to the ground at nine o’clock in the morning, would be there until lunchtime practising pretty hard, then they might have a couple of hours off in the afternoon and then they’d probably have a meeting or two or a session with a trainer.
So it is pretty much a full-time job. It’s not the same as working in an office or digging coal, but it is a demanding environment and they don’t get much time off.
You need a bit of time away from that. Not only to relax your body, but actually just to get your mind away from it.
Listen to all of Simon’s interview by downloading the latest episode of the Betway Insider Podcast below..
