Mike Hussey to oversee review of Victorian selection and contracting of players

Cricket Victoria has hired former Test star Mike Hussey to look into how the Vics pick their state teams and contract players.

Cricket Victoria has hired Mike Hussey to review its methods of selecting and contracting state players.

Former Australian Test batsman Mike Hussey will head a review of Victoria’s selection of state teams and the contracting of players.

Cricket Victoria CEO Nick Cummins last night informed Victorian Premier clubs of the move, saying Hussey would start the review on Monday.

It’s a response to a call from Essendon, which earlier in the year declared it had no faith in the selection process.

“He’s doing a best-practice, benchmarking process around our selection processes,’’ Cummins told Leader this morning.

“To summarise it, what do we do, what does everyone else do, what’s the best way to do it?

“What are the philosophies that underpin our selection and contracting processes, are they the best? So we’ve undertaken to investigate that and see how we’re going against the rest of Australian cricket and if there are areas we can improve. If there are, we will. It will also be a good opportunity to highlight what we’re doing well.’’

Mike Hussey has done reviews of cricket in Tasmania and South Australia.

Cummins was CEO of Cricket Tasmania when Hussey performed a similar review for that state.

Hussey also assessed the South Australian Cricket Association last year.

“Mike did a review for Cricket Tasmania of the entire high performance and we basically rebuilt the high performance program off the back of his recommendations … it saw Cricket Tasmania basically make every final subsequently from that,’’ Cummins said.

“Last year he did something similar for the SACA.

“A lot of it is about discovery, sitting down with people and saying, ‘So tell me about how you run selection, what are your guiding principles?’ Mike’s very good at getting honest answers out of people.

“He’ll look at what we do in Victoria from a selection and contracting perspective, what other states do and look at areas where we can align ourselves with best practice.’’

Cummins said he hoped to have Hussey’s recommendations by December.

Essendon and its president Simon Tobin had presented a submission to the CV board, saying the club had lost confidence in the policies and practices of the CV high performance unit over selection and player contracts.

The Bombers highlighted four areas of concern that it said were shared by other Premier clubs:

* inconsistency in rewarding performances in Premier Cricket.

* the potential loss of senior players who have lost faith in the selection process and no longer believe they will be considered for state teams.

* perceptions of bias in selection.

* a failure to produce Victorian players for Australian teams.

“In recent years there have been outstanding performances from Premier players which have seemingly been overlooked by state selectors, in favour of other players who have not performed at the same level,’’ the Essendon submission stated.

“Whilst there is always room in any selection process for younger, less experienced players to be considered on a balance of performance and potential, we submit many selection decisions made in recent years have been almost entirely weighted on potential, with next to no reasonable performance to justify the selection.’’

It said several players picked for Victoria in recent years had played less than 10 Premier First XI matches and had batting averages of between eight and 24.

At the same time up to six other Premier batsmen, all aged under 30, were averaging between 45 and 100.

Essendon said several bowlers selected had figures ranking them lower than at least 30 to 50 other bowlers in Premier Cricket.

“Of equal concern, and perhaps related to the above issues, is the apparent lack of communication between Premier players and a stark lack of attendance at Premier Cricket by CV high performance management and/or state selectors.

“Each season, numerous and consistent performances have been exhibited in Premier cricket, at a very high standard, yet only too rarely are CV high performance or state selectors in attendance. This is contributing to the growing dissatisfaction and declining confidence in the selection process within Premier ranks.’’

The submission said the “continued non-selection of the very best players in the Premier competition’’ was resulting in them moving on, either accepting money to play in weaker cricket or chasing interstate opportunities.

“The resultant damage to Premier Cricket is that a great number of other players, who have not performed at quite the same level as those above them, also now believe their own chances of higher honours are even more remote than those outstanding Premier players and are similarly electing to leave Premier Cricket.

“This will result in a decline in the depth and standard of Premier Cricket. If continued, the gap between Premier Cricket and first-class cricket will only grow wider, which weakens Victoria’s prospects for producing further first class and international players.’’

The Essendon submission said there was “rightly or wrongly’’ a perception that players from St Kilda and Melbourne were given “preferential selection treatment’’.

“This correspondence does not make any allegations of deliberate bias, but the perception exists nonetheless.

“It is worth considering that since 2009-10, 47 per cent of all players selected to debut for Victoria, come from just three clubs (St Kilda, Melbourne Richmond). In terms of games played (as opposed to just player numbers), 40 per cent of matches played for Victoria have been played by players from just two clubs, St Kilda and Melbourne.

“We contend that over nearly 13 years, in an 18-team competition (one team = 5.5 per cent), this is a statistical anomaly which could suggest some clubs’ players are favoured over others. To quell concerns of bias and inconsistency, we suggest the selection and player contracting process should be completed via a more transparent and broader process.

“It may also assist if the selection policies for matches and player contracts are also subject to a more considered formal policy, which is linked to Premier Cricket performances. Importantly, when considering those people and positions responsible for match and contract selection, a more frequent and regular rotation of individuals to those positions, coupled with formal guidelines, will provide more consistent outcomes and re-establish greater confidence in the process.’’

The submission also asserted that Victoria had “failed dismally’’ in producing Australian players and had done for many years.

The Vics have won the Sheffield Shield six times since 2007-08, as well as two one-day crowns in the past 10 years.