Time isn’t right for Mark Taylor to take over as Cricket Australia chairman, Ian Healy says

MARK Taylor has been endorsed as the potential new Cricket Australia chairman following the resignation of David Peever but former teammate Ian Healy is concerned the cricketing great will “be a victim”. He reveals why the time isn’t right.

Mark Taylor watches on during the Cricket Australia press conference following the culture review. Picture: Getty

THE time isn’t right for Australian cricket legend Mark Taylor to become the chair of Cricket Australia, according to his former teammate Ian Healy.

Taylor has been anointed as a potential successor to replace David Peever by former CA chair’s Malcolm Speed and Bob Merriman.

But Healy isn’t convinced Taylor’s time is now.

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“Mark Taylor would be a very good chairman, but again they’ve gone from internally with Kevin Roberts as CEO appointment to replace James Sutherland,” Healy told Fox Sports News on Thursday night.

“I just think he might be a victim, Tubby, in that anyone who presided over that culture when the Longstaff review was handed down, how can we make them chairman?”

Healy said a bigger priority for Australian cricket was replacing outgoing high performance manager Pat Howard, who will leave the job after next year’s Ashes.

Mark Taylor watches on during the Cricket Australia press conference following the culture review. Picture: Getty

“The major position they’ve got to get right or closer to right is the high performance director — the man who’s responsible for performing cricketers around the country,” Healy said.

“I think Pat Howard was positioned wrongly, above our greatest experts. We had a non-cricketer who had reports from the chairman of selections, the Australian coach, the Australian captain — he’s got to be underneath them if it’s a non-cricketer. Our high performance director should be under the experts in those positions.”

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Peever was forced to resign following outrage after the release of the Longstaff review.

“He’s probably been unfairly singled out, Dave Peever. The perception of David Peever is different to the actual man, but it does paint question marks over the whole board,” Healy said.

“Just the way one handles a high-pressure situation as a one-off is not reason enough to cost that sort of job.”