Thornely voices concern

New South Wales captain Dominic Thornely is concerned first-class cricket could dip in quality because of the crammed pre-Christmas schedule this summer.

The Blues, who began their season on October 8, have already played three Ford Ranger Cup games and began their second Sheffield Shield match at Adelaide Oval on Friday.

Thornley said the demand for Twenty20 had made for a busy start to the year.

"I think there may be a drop in performance because of the amount of cricket being played. Obviously the risk of injury is higher but I think teams may not be able to prepare as well for individual Shield games," he said.

"We play seven four-dayers and nine one-dayers before Christmas. Seventy-five percent of our season is done as of Boxing Day so we'll be sitting around in February and March not doing much which I think is a bit of a concern."

Thornley, who's played for Surrey and Hampshire in the past, said the domestic summer was starting to feel like county cricket.

"A lot of country cricketers have asked 'How come you guys have such a high level of first-class cricket domestically in Australia?' It's because of the limited amount of cricket we play and the gaps we have to be able to prepare for these matches," he said.

"We pride ourselves on playing 10 four-day games with even space in between them, we are actually able to prepare I think a lot better for the games. Rather than coming from Perth to Cairns to here (Adelaide) - it sounds like a bit of an excuse but I'm generally worried about the program, not just for our team but all teams."

"It's a difficult schedule but that's the way it's been put forward to us and it'll be interesting to see in the next 12 months how the performances of Shield cricket is."