Channel Nine 'Wholeheartedly' Endorses Resting Cricketers During One-Day Int'ls

Broadcaster Channel Nine has "wholeheartedly endorsed the resting of Ashes hero Mitchell Johnson and other Aussie stars from some matches of the upcoming one-day series," according to Ben Dorries of the COURIER MAIL. While Nine wants "bang for its buck after last year forking out" more than A$400M ($357M) for the int'l cricket rights, it has "no issue with some big names being on the sidelines at times during the ODIs against the Poms." Nine has in the past been "heavily critical of Cricket Australia over the rotation of players." Nine Sport Dir Steve Crawley said that he "understands the need for some players to put their feet up after Australia fielded an unchanged team for five heavy-duty Ashes Tests." Crawley: "I wasn't a supporter of the rotation system but Australia have now played five Tests in a row with the same players. I totally get that some of them need to have a rest" (COURIER MAIL, 1/7).