Australia to get a new manager after cricket World Cup

DUBAI - Cricket Australia (CA) Monday appointed Gavin Dovey to be the new manager of the Australian team after 2011 cricket World Cup.

Dovey, an expatriate Austrlian, is currently Rugby Football Union (RFU) England team operations manager. He will replace long-serving Australian team manager Steve Bernard, who will be retiring from the role after the World Cup in the sub-continent starting Feb 19.

Bernard and Dovey will conduct a handover during the Australian team tour to Bangladesh, scheduled right after the mega event.

CA general manager Michael Brown said he was excited to have recruited an appointee of Doveys background and sports management expertise.

Not surprisingly, we had a large field of strong candidates when we sought a replacement for Steve but Gavin was the stand-out candidate, Brown said.

Steve Bernard has been an outstanding Australian team manager, is one of the most popular identities in world cricket, and we knew his would be big shoes to fill,” Brown said.

Canberra-educated, Dovey worked for the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority before moving to a role managing anti-doping with the RFU.

Dovey said he was looking forward to returning to Australia to take up a position he expected to be challenging but fulfilling.

The RFU has been great to me and I will always be grateful for the opportunities they offered me - I have learned a lot.”

I now look forward to taking up the challenge of replacing Steve and of doing my part to help support the sporting team that the whole nation follows,” he said.