LONDON, July 15: The controversial issue of player burn-out was on the agenda of an International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting with eight of the 10 Test-playing nations’ captains at Lord’s Monday.

Several cricketers have retired from one form or other of the international game in recent years citing fatigue or withdrawn from tours for personal reasons.

England batsman Graham Thorpe was the latest player to retire from international one-day cricket at the weekend, saying he could not continue playing both versions of the game.

England coach Duncan Fletcher was widely quoted on Monday advocating the national side touring during their domestic season to help international players receive a longer break during the European winter.

Fletcher said he had forwarded his plan to the England Cricket Board for their consideration.

Player burn-out was openly debated during soccer’s recent World Cup in South Korea and Japan and is becoming an increasingly prickly issue in rugby union.

ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said Monday’s meeting, which would also discuss the image of the game, illegal bowling actions, playing conditions and the implementation of anti-corruption measures, was an opportunity for the players to have direct input to the running of the game.

“Over the past 12 months the ICC has regularly sought the views of the captains on matters such as standards of on-field behaviour, the new umpires and referees panels and...proposals to combat corruption,” Speed said in a statement.

“That feedback has been important in shaping decisions made by the ICC in recent times.”

Captains attending the meeting with Sunil Gavaskar, Speed, ICC cricket manager David Richardson and Anti-Corruption head Paul Condon are Stuart Carlisle (Zimbabwe), Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka), Khaled Mashud (Bangladesh) and Stephen Fleming (New Zealand), Waqar Younis (Pakistan), Shaun Pollock (South Africa) and India’s Saurav Ganguly (India).

West Indian captain Carl Hooper was not attending while Darren Lehman, currently playing county cricket with Yorkshire, was due to represent Australia.—Reuters