Cricket Australia chairman Mike Baird is in no rush to appoint Nick Hockley’s successor, with the outgoing CEO’s March exit still a flexible date.
Hockley addressed his last AGM as the sport’s boss on Thursday, as Cricket Australia delivered a better-than-expected AU$31.9 million loss for the financial year.
Officials have launched a global search for Hockley’s replacement, after the chief executive announced his impending exit last August.
Players’ union boss and former NRL CEO Todd Greenberg remains the front-runner for the role, while AAP is aware of interest from other CA executives.
Hockley had flagged a March exit when he announced his decision to move on, but remains open to staying beyond that if a replacement is not readily available.
“The process is under way,” Baird said. “There is not surprisingly a huge amount of interest in the role. We will run through that in a considered way as a board, there is no rush.
“We want to make sure we get the right person for the next phase. Nick remains here and has a huge amount to do. We expect to be able to meet the timeline, but we’re very relaxed.”
CA’s annual loss came in what was always expected to be a down year for the organisation, with neither England or India touring last summer.
The deficit was also greater than in the 2022-23 season, given that year’s finances were propped up by hosting the men’s T20 World Cup.
The annual result left the sport’s cash reserves at $25.7 million amid estimations of the Covid pandemic leaving the sport with a $100 million hit.
“The expectation is at the end of these two years we will have reserves in excess of $70 million,” Baird said. “It’s obviously a huge uplift relative to where we have been … we’re very bullish about the next two [summers] and it’s reflected in the forecast.”
Hockley insisted moves had been made to make CA’s budget more resilient against summers without India or England, through new content, investments, cost-efficiency moves and greater digital assets.
Baird also indicated Australia were pushing ahead with plans for a Test fund with the ICC, in a bid to support nations outside of the big three and safeguard the red-ball game.
Meanwhile, CA directors Lachlan Henderson, Greg Rowell and Clea Smith were all re-elected at Thursday’s meeting. Fellow director Paul Green announced he would soon step down.
