Cricket Australia (CA) Chief Executive James Sutherland has announced that he will step down from his position on Wednesday. It is another major bombshell to hit the troubled governing body since the ball-tampering fiasco.
Surprisingly, Sutherland announced his resignation and has given 12-months’ notice to CA to plan for a successor. He has been in the role since June 2001, had been under pressure since the ball-tampering scandal came up front in late March but had numerously expressed his desire to stay on through the backing of the board.
After the suspension of Steve Smith, Cameron Bancroft, and David Warner, it’s a major setback for CA. Coach Darren Lehmann also resigned in the aftermath of the ball-tampering saga and has been succeeded by Justin Langer, while CA’s head of integrity Iain Roy – who led the investigation into the ball-tampering accusations – has reportedly had his position terminated.
However, David Peever, CA chairman, announced at the press conference that he would continue for another three-year term. However, James clarified that the ball-tampering episode has nothing to do with his decision. He said, “It certainly was a big issue at the time. But when you work in an industry and a rich environment as we do, as chief executive of a major sport, these things come from time to time. It hasn’t had a bearing on my decision.”
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He further added, “We’ve had some big, big things to deal with over the course of the last 12 months. Obviously, there’s Cape Town, but there’s also some key planks that are now in place to allow me to step aside and for a new chief executive to come in and have a really strong platform from which to operate and take the game forward.”
Sutherland believed “the time was right” for CA to start a new era. He said, “It’s my intention to give the board the opportunity to run a thorough process to identify my successor and for me to provide support to the new (chief executive) with the smoothest possible handover. My successor will have a strong and stable platform from which to lead our sport and to deliver on our bold aspirations for cricket to be Australia’s favourite sport and a sport for all Australians.”
James succeeded Malcolm Speed in 2001 at the then Australian Cricket Board. Perhaps his crowning achievement was launching the highly successful Big Bash League (CA) and he was also instrumental in the advent of day-night Test cricket. However, Sutherland has also faced some tough times like the death of Phillip Hughes, last year’s dramatic pay dispute and poor player behaviour, which hit a crescendo in South Africa.
