Baird rejects Cricket Australia ‘hypocrisy’ accusation over Afghanistan

Cricket Australia chair Mike Baird has rejected accusations of hypocrisy over Afghanistan from the outgoing International Cricket Council chair Greg Barclay, pointing to the way Australian cricket is supporting a women’s refugee team.

On the morning Baird formally unveiled CA’s incoming chief executive Todd Greenberg at Adelaide Oval, he was also asked to respond to the views of Barclay, who has been replaced as ICC chair by India’s Jay Shah.

CA chair Mike Baird with new CEO Todd Greenberg.Credit: Getty Images

Barclay had contended that Australia and England had merely done the expedient thing by announcing they would not play bilateral games against Afghanistan after the 2021 Taliban takeover of the country and a ban on women in sport, while still playing them in world events.

“If you really want to make a political statement, don’t play them in a World Cup,” Barclay told the London Telegraph. “Sure, it might cost you a semi-final place, but principles are principles. It’s not about having half a principle.

“It is not the Afghanistan board’s fault. They used to have women’s cricket. I think our approach has been right. It would be easy to kick Afghanistan out, but their board haven’t done anything wrong. They’re just working under a decree and a series of laws that says this is what you have to do. I don’t think it would make a jot of difference to the ruling party there to kick them out.”

Baird responded by pointing to how the women’s team that fled to Australia after the takeover would – at long last – be brought together to play a game in late January, with the goal of doing so more consistently.

“I saw those comments this morning. I hadn’t heard those views before in any forum,” Baird said. “He’s obviously entitled to his view and he’s moving on to new things and we wish him well in that.

“But we’re very proud of the position we’ve taken and we’re supporting the Afghan women’s cricket team and those members that are still here and we’re doing that at the end of summer and we look forward to that, we think it’s important.

“Any game that has women as a key strategic driver with opportunities [to grow], they need to actually walk that. So from our point of view that’s the position we’ve taken, people have different views of course, but we’re very comfortable with the position we’ve taken.”

Speaking specifically about still playing Afghanistan in World Cups, Baird said: “There’s all types of lines you can draw. We’ve drawn a line, we’ve taken a position and we’re proudly standing up where we think we should. I think that event that’s going to come at the end of January is a celebration of women and what we’re seeing in the women’s game in this country. We remain proud of it.”

Indian fans watch training in Adelaide this week.Credit: Getty Images

Baird stated that CA respected India’s decision to ban open training sessions for the rest of the tour after up to 5000 spectators crammed in to watch the tourists in Adelaide on Tuesday night, but stressed that the Australian side took a different view.

“It’s a difficult time when you’re going into a competitive Test series and different teams will take different approaches. We understand that,” he said. “There’s huge pressure that comes and all types of things that can distract, from our point of view we love the fans.

“Our players are open and available and they enjoy it as well. So we want our fans to be connected to these players.

“It’s a once-in-a-generation team, once-in-a-generation players, and the chance to see them train and understand as I once did at the SCG nets, how far short my game was. I thought I was facing pace bowling and it turns out I wasn’t. So that sort of experience, that’s how the game is going to grow, fans connect and understanding. India have taken a position on that and we respect that.”

Greenberg, meanwhile, said he had ultimately decided to go for the CA job after concluding – by writing a question to himself on a whiteboard at home – that he could do more for cricket by replacing Nick Hockley than by remaining the ACA boss.

He also admitted that his players’ union background may be a challenge in terms of building relationships with India’s powerful BCCI, which does not recognise players associations, but that he would take useful lessons from his tempestuous time running the NRL.

“I’m really looking forward to developing relationships,” Greenberg said of the BCCI. “I come potentially from the dark side in their view, but I’m hoping there are no sides and we can work together.

“People often say rugby league is a tough collision sport, and that’s off the field. And I learnt plenty. I learnt an enormous amount of the importance of bringing stakeholders together and the importance of not running one out and thinking you have all the answers.

“It’s pretty clear the global system of cricket is changing, franchise cricket is putting pressure on bilateral cricket, and the way we’ve known cricket for such a long time in this country is changing in front of our eyes. We have to get our heads around that. Cricket is not a sport that has traditionally loved change.”

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