Katich rules out board bid, sees more heads rolling

MELBOURNE: Former Test batsman Simon Katich has ruled out taking a role on Cricket Australia’s embattled board and predicted that the blood-letting will continue in the wake of a scathing review into the governing body’s culture.

Cricket Australia has been under siege since last week’s release of the Longstaff review, which was commissioned in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town.

Chairman David Peever resigned last Thursday after his position became untenable and the board’s longest-serving director, former Australia captain Mark Taylor, quit on Monday citing the toll of a tumultuous period for Australian cricket. While announcing his resignation, Taylor said he hoped a former player would replace him on the board and nominated Katich among a handful of potential successors.

But Katich said his media roles and family commitments ruled him out of the job.

“I’ve got too much on my plate,” he said in comments published by The Australian newspaper. “Mark Taylor spoke about his conflict with media commitments and the board role and I have signed to work with Channel 7 and (radio station) SEN during the summer so I would be equally compromised.

“I’m contracted and I am going to honour that contract ... I would love to help but I am happy doing what I am doing.”

In a year of turmoil for Australian cricket, CA has seen longserving chief executive James Sutherland replaced by deputy Kevin Roberts, board director Bob Every quit in May over disagreements with Peever’s leadership and head coach Darren Lehmann replaced by Justin Langer in May.

Katich said he felt more departures were to come. “There are more answerable at the moment than those who have paid the price,” he said. “I don’t think this has ended yet.”

TWO MORE QUIT

Katich’s comments came before CA announced on Wednesday that two of its top executives were departing as part of sweeping leadership changes.

Pat Howard, who has been CA’S high performance boss since 2011, will depart next week instead of after the 2019 Ashes tour of England as he had planned, CA said in a statement.

Broadcast chief Ben Amarfio is leaving CA immediately as part of a restructure, the governing body added.

Cricket Australia said the latest changes signalled a “new chapter” under the leadership of incoming chief executive Roberts. “I think it is important at this point in time that we give cricket a fresh start and we start looking forward so we that can heal,” Roberts said.