ANDREW Symonds has added his voice to a growing list of former players calling for the country’s international stars to be more involved in Sheffield Shield and grade cricket.

For a long time now Australia’s cricket alumni have raised concerns over the treatment of the Sheffield Shield and grade system, with the likes of Steve Waugh and John Buchanan drawing a line between issues at the pinnacle of the game with problems at its foundations.

Their concerns have been vindicated by the Longstaff Report, which identified the disconnect between the country’s elite players and grassroots cricket as one of the key issues in the game.

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Shane Warne bowls to Michael Clarke in the ING Cup. Source: News Corp Australia

Gone are the days when the stars of the national team were free to regularly front up for their states, and the stars of the state system for their grade teams.

Once upon a time Shane Warne would bowl to Michael Clarke, and Brett Lee to Adam Gilchrist in the heat of battle while wearing their state colours (or whites) with pride.

Such duels were not just limited to first-class and List A cricket either, with the grade scene witnessing battles of the highest calibre. One round in Sydney in 2003 saw the Waugh brothers take on Michael Clarke at Bankstown Oval, while Stuart MacGill played Nathan Bracken in Mosman, and Michael Bevan played Simon Katich in Manly. While in 2001, Pakistani great Shoaib Akhtar played for Mosman. If he hadn’t been away on Australia duty, Lee would have shared the new ball with Akhtar.

Symonds was a part of that era and racked up more than 100 Sheffield Shield and 85 one-day cup appearances in a 17-year career despite being one of Australia’s premier all-rounders for much of the 2000s. And he still found time to play at least one grade game a season, he told foxsports.com.au on Tuesday.

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Australian captain Steve Waugh playing for Bankstown in 2001. Source: News Corp Australia

“When I was going through the system, even when I was playing Shield cricket, I still played a fair bit of club cricket,” he said. “If you were available, unless you were injured, you played. There was always that connection with club cricketers and the state cricketers.”

Today, Australia’s national cricketers are regularly “managed” out of state and grade matches under the orders of national high-performance managers and sport scientists. It doesn’t sit well with many former Test and ODI stars who find it no coincidence Australia has slumped to one of its grimmest years in recent history both in terms of performance and conduct.

But it’s no longer just past players urging Cricket Australia to recognise and act on today’s disconnect between grassroots and the elite. The governing body has been recommended to do so by a scathing independent review into its organisational culture.

Chappell blasts CA over bans 1:43

The Longstaff Report - released on Monday - included 42 recommendations to fix the game in Australia. Two related to increasing the involvement of CA-contracted players in grade cricket and the Sheffield Shield. Neither has yet been accepted by CA.

Under consideration is recommendation 15, which suggests players should play in at least two Shield and one grade match per season.

“Players of CA contracts be encouraged and enabled to maintain active involvement with Sheffield Shield and Grade cricket. Except when playing major series abroad, players on CA contracts should be made available to the relevant State and Territory Associations, if selected, to play a minimum of two entire Sheffield Shield matches and one Grade match per Australian summer,” the recommendation reads.

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CA said it will “actively look” for opportunities to improve the involvement of its players at grassroots level, but is unwilling to commit to a minimum number of games they should play.

“There are some challenges to implementation, such as ensuring CA selects the best available team for international cricket taking into account CA’s selection policy and the Players’ Pact, as well as ensuring the players’ health and wellbeing,” CA responded.

The next recommendation goes as far to suggest players should be excused from international Twenty20 matches to meet a minimum participation level in Shield and grade cricket. Out of all 42 recommendations, this was the only one flatly rejected by CA.

Symonds is disappointed by CA’s response to the recommendations, saying: “That sounds like an excuse to me.

“I don’t see the problem with that (two Shield and one grade game). It’s not a big ask.”

Andrew Symonds played grade cricket whenever he was available. Source: News Limited

Given CA’s reluctance to accept either recommendation, it remains to be seen if the review will have a tangible effect on the disconnect between the elite and its cricketing roots.

Symonds said “it’s a shame” that many clubs no longer see their graduated stars return in any capacity, unlike in other sports.

“The thing that disappoints me about the whole cricket set up is that you look at your rugby leagues and your AFLs and the great players that they’ve had play for their clubs. They seem to be able to find a way to keep players in certain roles,” he said.

“Obviously then you’ve got their experience and culturally they’re passing that on to younger generations. Cricket has never been very good at doing that.

“All the best and greatest players seem to have bigger and better things to do once they’ve finished, and it’s a shame.

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“It would be good if a good number of them stayed involved.”

Symonds is not alone in his desire to see the country’s best cricketers playing more grade cricket, with former Australia coach Buchanan and former captain Waugh both sharing similar opinions.

“When I played for Australia I couldn’t wait to go back and play grade cricket,” Waugh told AAP in September. “That’s why we were always strong.

“Now it’s seen as cause for celebration, people are put on a pedestal because they’re playing grade cricket.

“But we just need to get back to that hard-nosed cricket at grade and Shield level, then you’ll see the best players coming through and developing.”

Former Australia coach John Buchanan in his new role as Brisbane West’s cricket coach. Source: News Corp Australia

Buchanan, who now coaches Brisbane Wests’ first grade team, told The Courier Mail this month that the best learning experience emerging players can get is by playing with or against former stars at grade level.

“I have really enjoyed being around the young players but one of the things that concerns me is that there are no old players out there anymore,” he said. “That used to be where you got your best coaching — playing with and against the older guys.

“All the talk about ethics in Australian cricket traces back to this because the older guys may have played it tough but they pretty well played within the rules and they would sit down and have a beer at the end and talk through the day.

“Society has changed but Cricket Australia has not valued grade cricket for such a long period of time. They have sapped resources out of club cricket.”

To the likes of Michael Hussey, Shane Warne, Shane Watson and Gavin Robertson, there’s no surprise Australia has faltered as the Sheffield Shield’s significance on the national stage has diminished.

“In any business you need the foundations to be strong. The foundation of Australian cricket has always been grassroots cricket, club cricket and first-class cricket,” Warne told the 7.30 Report this month.

“To me, I think Cricket Australia is devaluing Shield cricket.

“I’d like to see international players playing Shield cricket.

“And playing because they love it and they want to give something back to the game.”

Michael Hussey had a long apprenticeship in Sheffield Shield cricket before making it onto the international stage. Source: News Limited

Hussey played Shield cricket for 10 years before he was given a crack at Test level, aged 30. He was placed in good stead to take on the world’s best bowlers by the extended run, which is something he believes today’s batsmen could learn from.

“I would like to see the pathways becoming really strong again, particularly the Sheffield Shield,” he told foxsports.com.au in August.

“Not to say that it’s not strong but to put a real focus on making sure that that next level is down is a great breeding ground and developing some gun players so the jump from Shield cricket up to Test cricket is a bit smaller.

“I just think if you get that base in a really good place and really good cricket, I think it always filters through.”

Mike Hussey: If you get that base in a good place it always filters through. Source: AP

Former Test all-rounder Watson last week wrote of the benefit of state-based programs, criticising CA’s perceived naivety for employing a centralised high-performance model instead. The Australian Cricketers Association has argued for a decentralised model, with funds redistributed across the states.

“The one-size-fits-all centralisation is so obviously counter-productive,” he wrote for The Sydney Morning Herald. “These adjustments would also ensure that the state coaches are being encouraged to develop a highly competitive state-based system, with the emphasis being on maintaining more proven senior players in the squad.

“The two-fold effect will be having the senior players imparting their knowledge, skills, values and behaviours whilst also creating a stronger domestic competition.”

Shane Watson still plays grade cricket for Sutherland. Source: News Limited

Robertson is another former Test and ODI player who rose through the ranks via a steady apprenticeship in state cricket for Tasmania.

Speaking to Fox Sports’ Bill & Boz in August, he said Australia’s dominance of the ‘90s and early ‘00s was off the back of a strong and highly respected domestic competition and the strength of the grade system.

“We are waiting to fall in a way that I don’t know we could ever imagine,” Robertson said. “We lived off the back of how strong our Shield competition was, which was war and it fostered us for 20 years of success.”

He added: “The under-19 and under-17 guys who are our stars coming up — they are your biggest weakness in a grade cricket club because right now you don’t even know if they can play next weekend.

“You’re waiting for the state physio to say, ‘Nope, he’s out’ on Thursday night or Friday night... You know why? Because they’ve got to wait another week before they can bowl another eight overs or another six overs.”

The comments of Symonds, Buchanan, Hussey and co. all beg the same question.

If state and grade cricket was good enough for international cricketers at a time when the national team was dominant, then why isn’t it now when it is inferior?