Cricket Australia to part ways with chief executive Kevin Roberts

Kevin Roberts is set to become Australian sport's latest high-profile casualty, with the Cricket Australia board to part ways with its chief executive this week as an attempted circuit-breaker to the game’s off-season crisis.

The dogs have been barking about Roberts’ future as CEO for 24 hours, with members of the board discussing the appointment of an interim replacement after their backing of him evaporated over the past fortnight.

Kevin Roberts has been Cricket Australia CEO since October 2018.Credit: Eddie Jim

CA chairman Earl Eddings is due to speak at noon on Tuesday.

His exit is set to come only 20 months since Roberts, who was previously chief operating officer at CA, won the job running Australian cricket. He succeeded James Sutherland, who occupied the post for 17 years until his departure in October 2018.

Sources said an interim chief executive would be installed while a worldwide search took place to determine who would take over permanently.

Roberts, 47, was contracted until the end of next year but is set to follow Todd Greenberg (NRL) and Raelene Castle (Rugby Australia) as the third CEO of a major Australian sporting code out the door in the past two months.

He was appointed in the final month of former chairman David Peever's stint as CA chairman as game was still grappling with the aftermath of the ball-tampering incident in Cape Town in March 2018.

Roberts was given the nod over former NSW chairman John Warn and a field that also included John Harnden, a CA board member, and Western Australia Cricket Association chief Christina Matthews.

However, he has always struggled to remove the stain left by his central part in the acrimonious pay war between CA and players three years ago and he has been under fire from nearly all quarters since the decision to stand down the majority of staff on 20 per cent pay in April.

The fissures in the game have deepened over the autumn and winter months while the football codes have managed to resume their competitions and within their own sports largely present a united front aside from a few early bumps in the road.

CA, by comparison, has faced sustained opposition from the Australian Players' Association, as well as state associations led by NSW and Queensland, over its cost-cutting during and financial projections during the pandemic. There have also been complaints about a lack of detail from head office. The latest flashpoint was a controversial downgrading last week of forecast revenue for 2020/21 by more than $200 million, to which the ACA has lodged a notice of dispute with CA.

Around the states, where more than 150 jobs have been lost, there has been growing unrest and not just in Sydney and Brisbane, where powerbrokers have stood firm in resisting a push to accept having their distributions from CA slashed. From Western Australia and Tasmania there has been anger about their snubbing in international scheduling while Cricket Victoria, which made its own savage staff cuts, has also been among those demanding more detailed financial information from CA.

Frustrated at the stalemate with states and players – and with staff morale at an all-time low after they were stood down and redundancies were flagged for this week – there had been growing unease from directors about Roberts' management of affairs during the past two months. They are also eager for the game to be more aligned as it bids to come out of the COVID-19 period in good health.

As for Roberts, his role as the frontman for CA's actions over the past two months left him exposed but there are prominent figures within the game who believe the board has to shoulder at least some of the responsibility for the path the governing body has taken.

Its next move, once a settlement with Roberts is finalised and his departure is confirmed, is much anticipated.

With increasing optimism about how the home international summer may play out, even if the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia is postponed, the likelihood of CA being able to fulfil its broadcast commitments is high and it should return to prosperity.

Before that the board's first aim, after weeks of conflict, will be restoring peace.