Dennis Lillee’s gender agenda bouncer

Was gender a factor when board members of Perth’s historic cricket ground had differences with their chief executive, Australia’s most capped female cricketer Christina Matthews?

Australian cricket great Dennis Lillee. Picture: AAP

Was gender a factor when board members of Perth’s historic cricket ground had differences with their chief executive, Australia’s most capped female cricketer Christina Matthews?

Test great Dennis Lillee wants the world to know all the details.

On Thursday, the fast-­bowling legend inserted himself in a long-running stoush at the WACA that has included a ­public debate over whether men’s toilets at the Perth ground should have urinals and the merits of unisex wash basins.

But Lillee points out it is more serious than that.

He is unhappy that the full reasons why five WACA directors resigned in 2022 have not been made public.

Their resignations were the subject of an investigation and then a written report that has remained under wraps. A summary of the findings did not conclude that Ms Matthews’ gender was the reason for the resignations.

Lillee and others believe the full story must come out because of comments Ms Matthews made in September.

On Perth radio station 6pr, Ms Matthews said: “My relationship with the board as a whole is fine, it’s no surprise to anybody that (in) my entire tenure here, traditionalists have not been happy with having a female progressive CEO.

“I’ve lived with that for 10 years, the fact that people still are concerned about me and the way I manage it is just day-to-day business for me,” she said in the radio interview.

Ms Matthews will leave the job in March.

Lillee says the report on the resignations during her tenure was important. “The report emanated from a judicial inquiry to provide answers to the members for the fragmentation of the board and as yet we’ve got nothing” the Test great said.

“The WACA paid a lot of money for that report. So far, we still know almost nothing about why these people resigned. And that’s not good enough.

“The most concerning part of the board’s failure to release the report is their inaction over the wrongful comments of the CEO,” he added.

The WACA has already ­published a summary of the report’s findings, but not the report in full.

On Thursday, WACA chair Avril Fahey told The Australian the full report about the reasons for the resignations remained confidential as per the inquiry’s terms.

Ms Fahey said the findings did not suggest that Ms Matthews attributed the resignations of any board members to the issue of gender, nor that gender was a reason for their resignations.

“Ms Matthews has been a fine servant of the game throughout her tenure and this is reflected in WA Cricket’s success, health and stability,” Ms Fahey said.