Cricket Australia could sack itself

ACA President Greg Dyer calls an independent board to control cricket in Australia

WITH a secret report being presented yesterday recommending a radical revamp of Cricket Australia, the nation’s cricketers insist the current antiquated board sack itself.

There are fears that state associations will attempt to maintain control by continuing to nominate delegates for a reduced and revamped board, as revealed in News Limited newspapers yesterday.

Australian Cricketers’ Association president Greg Dyer, a former national wicket-keeper, claimed the game’s prosperity in this country demanded radical reform.

“I think the future of the game hinges on this moment. I can’t put it more strongly than that,” Dyer said.

“It’s corporate governance 101. These are basic principles. You need an independent board and a properly qualified board.

“Let’s hope we get it.”

The report from David Crawford, who restructured the highly successful AFL Commission in 1992, will recommend sweeping reforms, reducing the current lop-sided board from 14 to nine or possibly even seven.

It is being presented to at a CA board meeting which begins in Melbourne today and is the fourth attempt in 20 years to reform an amateur and unfair system.

Currently there are three directors from the founding states of NSW, Victoria and South Australia, two from Western Australia and Queensland and one from Tasmania.

There are also concerns that CA or the state associations will attempt to bury the report, as they have in the past with previous failed reforms. 

Dyer claimed the report must be made public in the same way the Argus review was released.

CA was quite happy to skewer its previous selectors and coach following last summer’s Ashes disaster but there are questions about whether the CA board will have the courage to take ultimate responsibility for the game’s demise in Australia.

“Ultimately it’s the state associations which are going to have to make the final decision because they’re in charge at the moment,” Dyer said.

“We would encourage them to be brave. Don’t do this in a half-hearted way because you’ll end up with the same sorts of conflict of interest issues which are inherent in the current structure.

“My view is you select the best XI players to play in the Australian cricket team,” Dyer said. “If they all came from the one state then so be it.

“You need the best nine or seven people to run cricket given the nature of the task, irrespective of where they come from.

“The conflict of interest which is inherent between a state association and Cricket Australia mean that it’s just not appropriate to have that representational model.

“The model has been handed down from generation to generation and is only there because the historical situation was that CA did the international aspects of cricket on behalf of the states in times past.

“Now things have been really turned around. Cricket is run by CA, the revenues come in at the top, and all the strategies are driven from the national level now.

“It’s not a federation of states any longer, it’s a national body that needs to run a national game and requires a fully independent board to do that in the best way possible.” (www.hearaldsun.com.au)