Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive officer, Kevin Roberts, has resigned from his position, the board confirmed this Tuesday (June 16). In a media release, CA further announced the appointment of an interim CEO in Nick Hockley, who is also the chief executive of the ICC T20 World Cup.
The board, chairman Earl Eddings told reporters in a video, would conduct an international search for a new chief executive to lead the organisation as it continues to fight the ongoing COVID-19 shutdown.
"Cricket, like all national sports, has been going through a period of significant change and – in recent months we have had the added uncertainty delivered by COVID-19," Eddings said.
“The entire cricket community has been affected and difficult decisions have been – and will continue to be necessary – to ensure that cricket at every level is in the best shape it can be now and in the future."
“It is essential that Cricket Australia continues to provide strong leadership and works constructively with everyone who has an interest in the future of the game – the players, all employees, the state associations, commercial partners and supporters," he added.
Before his departure, Roberts had controversially decided that all of CA's staff will be enduring 80 per cent layoff from their salaries until the end of June, foreseeing significant financial implications of the pandemic despite the shutdown coming at the end of the season and exerting minimal impact on Australia's international schedule.
Roberts was pushing for further cost-cutting measures by reducing the grants given to the state associations. The six state bodies, who nominate members to CA's executive board, however, pushed against the governing body's proposal.
In Western Australia (WACA), Perth's snub as one of the venues for the lucrative India Test series in December-January, also didn't go down well.
Players were upset as well with CA's proposal to reduce domestic schedule and were also worried over estimates of revenue projections from where their pay comes.
Earlier this month, Roberts had said that the domestic game in Australia stands to loose A$80 million ($54.55 million) during this phase.
Some media pundits, however, said Roberts exaggerated the financial strain on the board, given that India's series is likely to happen on time and spectators are expected to return to stadiums, with the government beginning to lift restrictions that were in place because of dwindling positive cases.
(Inputs from Reuters)
