17 Jul 2012

Cricket Australia chief tells players to adjust to heat

6:24 am on 17 July 2012

The head of Cricket Australia James Sutherland says Michael Clarke's side will simply have to adjust to the late playing hours and 40-degree heat of Sharjah for their upcoming series against Pakistan.

Australia will play a one-day international against Afghanistan in Sharjah on August 25, followed by three ODIs and three Twenty20 matches against Pakistan in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

The ODI matches in Sharjah and Abu Dhabi won't finish until almost 2am local time, in a bid to avoid the hottest part of the day.

Sutherland says it's not ideal but the players will need to adjust.

Pakistan have been forced to host series outside of their home country because of security concerns in recent years.

However, international cricket has never been held in the UAE in the August-September period which is the hottest time of the year in the country.

The Australian Cricketers' Association chief Paul Marsh says he's concerned about the heat and says there could be safety issues playing sport at that time of the night when a player is facing someone bowling at 150 kilometres an hour.

Marsh also says the tour had been put on for commercial reasons, not necessarily cricket reasons.