Shield cricket inadequacies ail Australia say veterans

Senior players have highlighted the demise of the Sheffield Shield as the root of Australian cricket's tumble from the top says Malcolm Conn, writing in the Daily Telegraph.

Simon Katich believes the competition lacks experience and labelled the conversion of the state second XI to an under-23 tournament of three-day matches a "failure". Stuart Clark claimed that for the first time in his 15-year career he feared for the safety of an opposing opening batsman because he was "scared" and could not cope with fast bowling.

The current and former Australian veterans are saying publicly what many others are voicing privately to the team performance review set up following last summer's Ashes debacle. Their views are diametrically opposed to Cricket Australia.