Global system of cricket is changing in front of our very eyes: New Cricket Australia CEO
Greenberg, who has fought with CA in the past to let go of players to participate in the IPL, reiterated his position by stating why the sport needs to embrace the change
Australian Cricketers’ Association CEO Todd Greenberg, who is set to replace Nick Hockley as the chief executive of Cricket Australia, has laid down his ambitions of marrying the challenges that cricket is facing at the moment with the opportunities given by the franchise format. While stating that the very fabric of the sport is undergoing a massive transformation, Greenberg was of the opinion that the sport has to embrace the change.
“I’m a realist,” Greenberg said ahead of the day-night Test against India. “I’d say this to you, and I said exactly the same thing to the board, in my view, in Australian sports, cricket has the biggest challenges coming to it of all the domestic sports, but it also has the greatest opportunity and ambition and to marry those two things together will be the definition of success. There are lots of challenges.
“I think it’s pretty clear that the global system of cricket is changing. Franchise cricket is putting pressure on bilateral cricket, and the way we have known cricket for such a long time in this country is changing in front of our very eyes.”
The Indian Premier League has become the crowning jewel of the sport, even ahead of the ICC events, with money floating in billions of dollars. That has virtually sidelined the other cricket boards, who may not have as big a pocket as the Indian cricket has otherwise. Greenberg, who has fought with CA in the past to let go of players to participate in the IPL, reiterated his position by stating why the sport needs to embrace the change.
“That change can be really good and positive and commercial. We have to get our heads around that. Cricket is not a sport that has traditionally loved change, so we have to embrace that, and that takes leadership [and] it will take some courage, but it will also take us working together. You won’t hear a lot of ‘me’ and ‘I’, you’ll hear a lot of ‘us’, because it takes a village, and it’s going to take an entire cricket village, if we’re going to turn the ship.”
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