Cricket Australia ‘deliberately stalling’ review of Ashes loss
By ANIMonday, February 21, 2011
SYDNEY - Cricket Australia is said to be ‘deliberately stalling’ the review of Australia’s disastrous Ashes campaign which is unlikely to be completed in time for their next Test series.
Six weeks since Australia’s abysmal Test performance against England, officials back home are yet to put out a significant report on the Ashes review.
Cricket Australia will not officially start the Ashes review until after the World Cup, which finishes on April 2. Its completion will not come before Australia’s Test tour of Sri Lanka in August.
The Sydney Morning Herald quoted an insider as saying that there was no reason the review could not start now.
It’s understood the CA management is keen for the governance review to be conducted by corporate expert David Crawford and Geelong Football Club president Colin Carter, to take priority over the report into the team’s Ashes failure.
After making chief executive James Sutherland, selection chairman Andrew Hilditch and coach Tim Nielsen available for a media interrogation in the aftermath of the Ashes, CA has since failed to make any meaningful announcement about the Ashes review other than confirming one would happen.
The timelines put forward by CA will create uncertainty over several key positions in Australian cricket, including those held by Nielsen and Hilditch.
Sutherland refused to guarantee the pair would retain their jobs earlier this month, saying their futures hinged on the findings of the team performance review.
Businessman Don Argus is likely to lead the review panel, believed to contain former Test captains Steve Waugh, Mark Taylor and Allan Border.
CA yesterday rejected suggestions the Ashes review had been left on the backburner. “It’s a serious issue. We have been shaken to the core by the outcome of the Ashes series,” a CA spokesman said. (ANI)
