Another summer of cricket is upon us and can't you just sense the excitement everywhere?

No? We can't either.

Cricket doesn't have a great hold on the national sporting psyche right now. It is partly disappointment over the failed Ashes campaign last winter, partly disillusionment over a pair of underwhelming opponents on the schedule this summer and general question marks over Test cricket versus one-dayers versus 20-20.

All are worthy of lengthy dissertations of their own, but the issue to be addressed here is cricket's off-season, or to be more precise, the lack of it.

The anticipation ahead of Thursday's opening Test against the West Indies should equal that before the start of football season - league, union, soccer or AFL.

But since the end of last summer, the Australians have been to South Africa for Test and one-dayers, England for the same, and India for one-dayers. Chuck in the IPL and then the Champions League, and Australian cricketers have been engaged pretty much non-stop for more than a year.

Famously, when Peter Siddle was released from the Australian one-day squad for the last few matches in India a few weeks back, it emerged that he hadn't slept in his own bed for about five months.

And while most Australian players have been rested at some stage through what has been a marathon year, the team itself has not. For more than a year, Australia has been playing, or preparing for some sort of cricket series.

Every other major sport has a mandated off-season. Soccer, tennis, baseball and basketball have long seasons, too long most of the time, but they do shut down for at least a few weeks each year. The AFL and NRL make headlines for nearly 52 weeks a year, but there are several months each year when no games are played.

But not cricket, and it is damaging the sport. While we are not suggesting for a moment that the Australian cricketers sit idly for half a year, there is overwhelming evidence that players need some sort of formal rest, and the general lack of excitement ahead of what should be a landmark event on the sporting calendar - the opening day of the First Test - suggests that fans need an off-season as well.

However, given the might and power of Indian TV interests and the thumb-twiddling of the International Cricket Council, chances are strong that we won't be getting one any time soon.