Greg Baum writes in the Age that the gurgling sound you might be able to hear is the strangling of the goose that laid the golden egg.

The focus is on player burn-out, but ignores a parallel effect that in the long term may hurt the game more: fan burn-out. ''Spectator fatigue,'' it was called by Adam Gilchrist. Thursday night's stunner in Hyderabad, far from disprove the thesis, adds to it. Though replete with entertainment, the chances are that few were watching - why this one, rather than the last or the next? - and that it will soon be lost to memory in the rush of more matches. That's the pity.

Cricket Australia's sins of this winter can't be repeated, writes Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald. Australian players have had an overdose of cricket, domestic and international, and unsurprisingly the injury list has been lengthening by the day. Dizzy? Confused? Exhausted? Media managers and selectors came and went but the senior players hardly saw their front doors for months on end.

Complacent officials point out that strained sides and hamstrings are occupational hazards for pace bowlers while broken fingers are part and parcel of a keeper's life. They add that some of the crocks only joined the tour a few weeks ago. But the longer a trip lasts, the heavier the toll it takes. Peter Siddle had been on the road longer than Mick Jagger. How on earth was he supposed to stay at his peak for 25 weeks? Fast bowling puts immense pressure on the body, and the artificial way of life derails the mind.

Peter Lalor, in the Australian, says the Australian team is threadbare, living on care packages and needs replacements.

The Catholics are worried. The long-hairs, too. For there's news about that Andrew Hilditch, chairman of the war cabinet, is pushing for conscription to fill the quota. How else to make up the numbers? Already there are suggestions that the able-bodied are reluctant to serve. Hilditch is a cold-eyed and desperate man. There's talk in underage cricket circles of him trying to lure strapping young adolescents from suburban fields with the promise that they'll see the world and be home by Christmas.

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