Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg opens up on game’s biggest issues
The Cricket Australia CEO opens up to BEN HORNE about the biggest issues in the game, including Will Pucovski’s retirement, Usman Khawaja’s Shield controversy, and privatising the BBL.
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Todd Greenberg has declared one of his first priorities will be to change the dumbest rule in cricket.
The new chief executive of Cricket Australia is determined to put fans first and lobby international rule makers to end the perennial embarrassment of bad light stopping play in Test cricket.
Year after year packed stadiums around the country and millions watching on TV are being taken for granted by the scourge of inflexible umpires marching finicky players off the field prematurely for bad light and light rain, and Greenberg says enough is enough.
The former NRL boss who has relocated from Sydney to Melbourne to throw everything into running cricket, has opened up on a wide-range of issues a month into his new job – starting with a mission to hold the international game accountable to its responsibilities to fans.
“It’s something I’m passionate about and it comes from my starting proposition, which is what business are we in? My view has always been we are in the entertainment business and so if we’re in the entertainment business that means we’re trying to make sure as many fans can enjoy their cricket as possible,” Greenberg said.
“The frustration that goes when we walk off with bad light is we may be one of the last industries left that would do that.
“We need to find ways to innovate and figure out solutions so that doesn’t happen in the future.
“I’m a realist and I understand why (it happens) and I understand the difficulties, but ultimately we want to give fans the best outcomes and there is nothing more frustrating than having to go off for bad light, particularly in an environment where we can play under lights be it with different coloured balls or different technologies.
“It is something we have to address as a sport, not just Australian cricket, but global cricket to make sure we can live up to the expectations of people who are paying good money to watch our sport.
“The players are part of the solution and we need to communicate really well with them. I’m a realist to know that it won’t be solved overnight, but geez, it’s 2025 and we can play in different conditions, I’m certain we can come up with a way to solve some of those challenges.”
PRIVATISING THE BIG BASH
As first revealed by this masthead, Cricket Australia has launched a process to seriously consider introducing privatisation to the Big Bash League and as part of that process, expanding the competition to add a ninth team.
The ECB sold off 49 per cent of its Hundred teams to investors, including billionaire Indian Premier League owners, and Greenberg has refused to rule out any model which could add much-needed revenue streams to the game.
It’s understood that even after a bumper Border Gavaskar Indian summer where all-time crowd and audience numbers were smashed, it didn’t produce the financial results Cricket Australia might have previously expected, with operation costs exploding.
That said, the Big Bash is making money and Cricket Australia – unlike the ECB – is not considering expansion from a position of desperation, but as a way of adding value to boost the future of the game.
“I think a lot of people on the back of what’s happened in the UK with the Hundred are just expecting that we’ll do the same thing here. And I’m at pains to point out to people, that’s not the case,” Greenberg said.
“What we have to do first is let’s have a look at what options for headroom we’ve got, what growth opportunities we have in the league.
“This is a very profitable league. It’s doing really well. So the question for us is how do we maximise some of that?
Is that changing some of our strategy, is it expansion? And considering all of those things before we even get to the point of, do we want external investment to come into our league?
“We are fortunate we can consider these things from a position of real strength. Everything is on the table so I want to make sure we’ve got an eye to the future to innovate and evolve, but we don’t have to make any rushed decisions.
“… I don’t want to be the sport that puts its head in the sand. I want to be a sport that has the view to the future and is open-minded to both evolution and change, whilst always protecting what’s really fundamental and core to the sport.”
GREENBERG DEFENDS KHAWAJA
Greenberg has backed Usman Khawaja’s controversial decision not to play in the penultimate game of Queensland’s Sheffield Shield season.
The decision sparked a furious response from Queensland’s head of cricket Joe Dawes and ex-Queensland players, despite the fact Khawaja had told Cricket Australia medicos he had a tight hamstring and was being managed ahead of June’s World Test Championship Final.
Greenberg conceded cricket’s communication of such decisions needed to improve, but said he had no issue with the likes of Khawaja and Nathan Lyon having niggling injuries managed with a view to best preparing them for Test cricket.
“Look, I think if you if you had the choice you would want everything. You would want them to play as often and be as available as often as they possibly can but the reality is that if you look at what’s ahead for our Australian red ball players, they’ve got an enormous workload coming up with the World Test Championship followed by three Tests in the West Indies, followed by what will be one of our biggest summers at home domestically of all time with the Ashes,” Greenberg said.
“If you take the forward-looking lens and you become quite strategic about availability then there will be things that will have to be missed in order to achieve your objectives down the track.
“Also, to be completely frank, we’ve got a slightly older Australian Test team than we’ve had in the past and so the management of those players is really important.
“I think the issue comes down to ensuring we communicate really well. We communicate really well with each other but then we also communicate more broadly so that the public and our stakeholders understand what we’re trying to achieve and I think that’s where we can certainly be better.”
THE GAME MUST SUPPORT PUCOVSKI
Greenberg has added his voice to the sad confirmation last week that Will Pucovski will retire from cricket aged 27 due to complications from concussion.
Pucovski has engaged a lawyer and is examining the possibility of seeking compensation over his premature exit from the game.
Greenberg said Pucovski’s tragic tale was a reminder of how the game has a responsibility to look after all retired players.
“Will was clearly an incredibly talented player on the field and from what I’ve seen he’s also incredibly talented off the field and I do hope that there are opportunities for Will to be associated with cricket,” Greenberg said.
“I know the ACA are heavily engaged with him in support of him now as a former player which I think is really important. It opens the question to how we can best support as a sport how we can best support players who transition out of the game whether it’s through retirement, whether it’s through injury or hardship.
“It’s a great reminder that for many of our elite cricketers coming to the end of their cricket journey, it’s often not their own choice and that’s what makes professional sport so difficult and again why we need mature and sophisticated programs to help them in transition.
“Will story’s a very unique one in cricket. Maybe not so unique in some of the winter codes but certainly unique in cricket and that’s why I think we’re talking about it because it’s important that we do address some of these things and we learn as a sport and how we can improve.”
GREENBERG’S FIRST LOVE
Just minutes before this interview takes place, Wests Tigers coach Benji Marshall has just finished his emotional press conference responding to the firestorm surrounding star player Lachlan Galvin.
In his former guise as NRL CEO, this sort of drama was consuming Greenberg every minute of the day, but he was only vaguely aware of the latest happenings in the rugby league soap opera from his new home in Melbourne, where he has relocated with wife, start his job in charge of cricket.
Greenberg might be best known for his time running the NRL, but at heart he is and always has been a cricket man.
“I played cricket from a very young age and I loved it. I only ever played for one club, Randwick cricket club in Sydney, where my friends from my childhood days are still my best mates today. I think that’s a great reflection of the sport and the friendship and camaraderie that goes with being part of a team sport like cricket,” Greenberg said.
“A lot of people don’t know this but my first job was at Cricket NSW and I shared an office in the early 1990s with Christina Matthews (President of Australian Cricketers Association), Belinda Clark (former Cricket Australia general manager) and Trevor Bayliss (former England World Cup winning coach).
“The friendships I have with all of those people have been retained right through today.
“If you’d asked me back then when I was wearing a tracksuit going around helping kids hit Kanga cricket balls off tees that I would one day be afforded the opportunity to be the CEO of Cricket Australia I would have laughed at you, but I feel very privileged and honoured to be given this role and I’m here to serve cricket and I want to do the very best I can for as long as I can.”
Originally published as Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg opens up on game’s biggest issues
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