Belinda Clark won’t run for top job at Cricket Australia

CA’s respected head of community cricket has decided not to run for the position of chief executive after the sacking of Kevin Roberts.

Belinda Clark has a passion for growing the grassroots game in cricket. Picture: Nicole Cleary

Anybody hoping Belinda Clark might become the first female chief executive at Cricket Australia needs to think again with the former Australian captain ruling out a run at the top job.

Along with Christina Matthew, CEO at the WACA, the executive general manager of community cricket is one of the most experienced administrators in the game.

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She stepped into the role of high performance manager when Pat Howard left the organisation in 2018 and handled the complex job — now divided between two staff members — with aplomb, guiding the men’s team through a difficult period. Her first love, however, is the community role.

Clark told The Weekend Australian she has no desire to put up her hand for the role vacated recently by Kevin Roberts.

“I’m really in the right place at the moment to make a difference,” Clark said. “This is where my heart and passion is and I have got no intention of putting my hat in the ring for that.”

Clark appears to have defended her turf better than most during the recent cuts that saw 40 made redundant at the organisation.

“The bottom line is we won’t lose anything,” she says. “There’s four redundancies, but three new roles and one coming back into a club and association role, so the net effect is zero.

“I’m not saying people haven’t been impacted, there’s four people that have had roles made redundant and three new positions. There has been an impact on people and I feel a duty to find those people new work, but as a department we’ve been able to hold our ground.

“That tells us our commitment to the community, our commitment to our women’s teams is ridgey didge, we are not mucking around, we are serious about these areas.”

Community cricket has been the biggest growth area at CA in the past decade as it morphed from an administrative body for the men’s national team into one that tends the game from the grassroots up.

Clark’s department has invested funding in building changerooms for men and women’s teams to support the growing number of females playing the game. Ironically, she notes, community cricket clubs have been advised not to use change rooms during the pandemic.

One position lost in the $40m cuts at the organisation was the head of female engagement with news Sarah Styles, who has had that role since 2014, would be replaced by a part time co-ordinator.

Matthews, the other most senior female administrator in the country, was rejected for the CEO’s role late in the process two years ago when CA opted for Roberts. The no-nonsense former Australian wicketkeeper has been a fierce advocate for Western Australian cricket and an energetic contributor to debate among administrators.

Chairman Earl Eddings told staff last week the organisation would take its time finding a replacement for Roberts, saying interim CEO Nick Hockley could be in the job through the Australian summer.