Gilchrist warns of player burnout before Ashes

SYDNEY, Apr 25 (Reuters) Australia vice-captain Adam Gilchrist believes player burnout could jeopardise his country's chances of winning back the Ashes.

The ICC Champions Trophy in India is scheduled to start in October, with the final just over two weeks before the first test against England starts in Brisbane on Nov. 23.

''We have to get our priorities right,'' Gilchrist told the Sydney Morning Herald today. ''It is important that selectors, administrators, players and whoever else needs to be involved sits down and nuts that out.'' Gilchrist said Cricket Australia needed to find the right balance between the needs of individual players and the team.

''I am not saying no one goes, or all key players but we definitely have to sit down and address it,'' he said. ''I think we have to look very, very seriously at that lead-in to the Ashes,'' he said.

''There is the Champions Trophy, and I believe there are potential other games of one-day cricket that may come up prior to that. We are going to have to be very careful about what we want to prioritise as most important.'' Cricket Australia operations manager Michael Brown said the issue was in hand.

''We are worried about the whole seven months of cricket,'' he said. ''The ICC Champions Trophy is clearly important to Cricket Australia. We'll be sending a very good team, the best team available at the time.'' ''For us, the ICC tournaments are of No 1 importance. We have never won a Champions Trophy and would like to win it.

''Part of our strategic plan is to lead the world in cricket performance so to entertain the thought that we're going to be mass resting players is not going to happen. What we will do is individually manage every player's workload over the period.'' Australia have struggled at times on the current tour of Bangladesh, which followed immediately after a tough test series in South Africa.

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