Australia’s Test stars didn’t call for axing of Kevin Roberts despite his role in the last pay war

While some might not have been able to cop him, it didn’t mean Kevin Roberts didn’t have a genuine relationship with others, and on that count some feel the blanket statement that he was detested by players is a misrepresentation.

Kevin Roberts was not loved by all the players but nor was he seen as the only problem at CA HQ.

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If Cricket Australia thought making Kevin Roberts a sacrificial lamb would help appease their disgruntled stars, they have been mistaken.

While it’s fair to say many in the Australian playing group wouldn’t have shed many tears for Roberts this week, he did have some high profile supporters inside the national set-up as well.

But those in the camp who never forgave ‘Video Kev’ for the role he played in the pay war three years ago and who felt he could never give a straight answer on anything, and among those who felt he had made a genuine attempt to rebuild bridges and was fundamentally honest, the overriding feeling on his sacking appears mutual: the Cricket Australia board should be the ones held ultimately accountable.

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Senior Australian players were split over Kevin Roberts axing.

Several states are filthy with the way Cricket Australia has handled the COVID-19 crisis and there have already been reports of a push for the governance structure of the Cricket Australia board to be completely revamped to give those disillusioned associations a greater voice.

Players would never rise up against the directors in the same way, but there is simmering dissatisfaction among them, over the role the board has played in the damaging saga.

One of the main reasons Roberts lost his job was because of his inability to deal with the players association.

That is a fact. And his position was untenable.

However, while some might not have been able to cop him, sources say that doesn’t mean he didn’t have a genuine relationship with others, and on that count some feel the blanket statement that Roberts was detested by players is a misrepresentation.

It’s understood several players have sent Roberts messages of support in the wake of his sacking.

Roberts was forced out after his bungled handling of the COVID-19 fallout.

When Roberts first made the controversial call to stand down 80 per cent of his staff on April 16 and flagged that Cricket Australia could be trading insolvent by August unless drastic measures were taken, it was revealed he had personally contacted some of the leading names in Australian cricket to give them a heads up about what was happening.

The players association took this as an affront and felt Roberts was trying to undermine them by going around them instead of communicating directly with the union, like he did with miserable success during the bitter 2017 MOU fight.

However, that opinion wasn’t necessarily shared by the players themselves, who it’s understood didn’t read much more into the direct contact other than they took it as an attempt to show them respect and goodwill.

The players’ big gripe through this whole COVID-19 saga – regardless of how they individually felt about Roberts – was in the detail, or rather the lack thereof.

Like in solving a complex mathematics equation, how you got to the answer is as important as the answer itself and the players felt there was a complete absence of evidence and explanation provided by Cricket Australia to support their claims that massive cuts were necessary.

And for this, they hold the board ultimately responsible. Although CA sources say several attempts were made to provide the players association with comprehensive briefings.

Roberts deserved to go in the eyes of many Australian stars, but him going doesn’t change the fact that players still feel they have been dudded.

Australia coach Justin Langer did not wade into any of the politics on Thursday other than to say that leadership is not easy and handling a crisis is complex.

But Langer did reflect a view that Roberts did have relationships within the Australian set-up.

“It was really hard … seeing Kevin Roberts go the other day,” he said.

“You build relationships with these guys and the human side of it kicked in.

“I know it’s really, really complex the current situation we’re in. Could we all learn from the past? Yes we can all learn from the past.

“But I’m certainly not pointing any fingers at Kevin Roberts because I know how hard it is, I can imagine how hard it is to be in his shoes at that time.”

COMMENT: Attacked on all fronts - why Roberts simply had to go

Australian cricket should be embarrassed by its woeful lack of unity during the COVID crisis, writes Robert Craddock.

Sacked Cricket Australia chief executive Kevin Roberts must take some of the blame and the moral of his exit is you can know the system from top to bottom and speak as many honey sweet words as you like – but if you can’t build relationships and trust none of it matters.

Roberts was not a bad man but he was a bad appointment, coming in with scars from the players dispute which were fine when things were going well but the bandages were always going to be ripped off in a crisis.

By the end of his tenure he was like one of those WWII soldiers stuck in his tiny burrow being attacked from the north (by the states), the south (by the players), the east (by his board) and west (by employees he had stood down).

Kevin Roberts has been proved to be the wrong appointment as Cricket Australia CEO.

The world simply could not go on like that. The system had effectively been shut down due to self-inflicted wounds.

The circuit had to be broken and it was with Roberts’ axing but many questions remain and problems linger.

It was not as if Roberts was a lone wolf who tore up the script and suddenly went rogue.

Cricket Australia’s board surely had to have sanctioned his standing down of more than 200 staff. They rubber stamped 25 per cent cuts to states and projections to players, both of which caused outrage.

Australia’s leading players have been less than convinced by CA’s economic forecast and need for wage cuts.

There is no evidence of any event where they went east and he went west, yet his career has gone up in smoke and the board lives to plod on for another day.

The COVID era drew sports like rugby league and AFL together – cricket has ripped itself apart.

Say what you like about rugby league’s bash and barge approach to getting things done but everyone eventually put their personal gripes aside to jump on the same train and move it with collective force.

About the same time as cricket was standing down 200 staff in mid-April and getting forecasts for massive financial losses, rugby league was swearing to be up and going by May 28. It duly was.

League’s positivity was in stunning contrast to cricket’s gloomy pessimism… despite the fact that the virus threat peaked during the off-season and cricket is yet to lose a solitary free to air game because of it.

Yet it is currently organising a bank loan to continue… go figure.

There are plenty of lessons in this entire affair which stretch beyond Roberts.

Just as Roberts was replaced, the players union should also look to ease the tension by replacing some of their old warriors.

Players need to learn that no matter what their MOU says Australia is in the midst of a recession and belts need to be tightened accordingly.