'Aussie cricketers spoilt and mollycoddled'

Melbourne:

Australian cricketers are "spoilt and mollycoddled", feel ex-players, who want former captain Mark Taylor to chair a crisis summit to find a way out of the slump that has engulfed the national team.

Former Test wicketkeeper Steve Rixon said Australia's continuing dismal performances, the most recent being the innings and 71 runs defeat to England in the second Ashes Test, is unacceptable.

"We've been spoilt and things have come too easy for us. We've not had to do the hard yards," Rixon said.

"There's no question we need a summit. We want Australian cricket to get back on top and now it's become frustrating. Mark Taylor would be perfect to oversee it (a summit). He's got a great cricket brain, and I'd have people like Steve Waugh.

"We need to have a look at our whole brand of cricket, from Test to one-day and Twenty20," he was quoted as saying by 'The Herald Sun'.

Rixon said fresh planning is needed urgently to arrest the slide.

"We need a think tank to come in at the end of this summer where we get past and current players and even some business people to come up with a blueprint on how to rebuild our game.

"To think we are fifth on the (ICC) table -- that's unacceptable. We should be in the top three. We need to start at the top with our selectors and look at every facet of our cricket."

Former Test selector John Benaud also trained his guns on the players and said they are too pampered.

"There's got to be more hangers-on in the Australian cricket team now than there are players," he said.

"Australia's cricketers are the most mollycoddled bunch. These guys need match practice, not blokes with video cameras filming players at training. They need good, hard work in the middle," he added.

The views were echoed by former Test skipper Kim Hughes.

"We've become a bit precious in the way we're treating our players. We're wrapping blokes up in cotton wool. Resting a guy like Mitchell Johnson from the WA side (playing Queensland in the Sheffield Shield) is just mind-boggling," he said.