Sydney, Apr 14 : Cricket Australia's national talent manager and selector Greg Chappell, who returned from a recent reconnaissance mission to Boston and Texas, has said that the cricket board cannot afford to let talented players slip through the gaps like India.

"We're not like India, we can't waste talent. They can have a few fall over and there will be someone there backing them up, but we don't have the talent pool they have, so we have to be a lot more efficient," Chappell said.

Chappell visited the Boston Red Sox and the University of Texas football program to tap into their expertise in identifying talented players, keeping them and turning them into hardened stars, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

"Is there a way to maximise the talent you have got? You might have 10 players at the end of the under-19 program, we need to get the majority of those guys through to the next level. How does a player develop mental toughness, you develop mental toughness in the heat of the battle, nobody has come up with any other way," he said.

"That means we have to work with the states to make sure that if we have identified these five players, their state understands . they need opportunities in all formats over the next few years, which can sometimes can be counter to what the state thinks is important to them," Chappell added. (ANI)