Cricket Wellington staff remain in limbo

Cricket Wellington (CW) is trumpeting a new dawn for the game in the region but won’t say how many jobs will be lost in its major restructure.

Chief executive Cam Mitchell and board chair Sally Morrison confirmed this ambitious plans for ‘‘a new operating model and culture for the organisation and cricket in our region’’.

It comes nearly a month after Mitchell summoned staff to a Friday meeting where he dropped a bombshell, outlining plans for nearly half his 16 employees to have their jobs disestablished.

The Dominion Post understands former Black Cap Chris Nevin, director of cricket Robbie Kerr and experienced and respected coaches Mark Borthwick and Ivan Tissera were among those told their roles were going. Staff were stunned and word quickly spread in cricket circles.

Mitchell said five new full-time jobs were being advertised: three in the community arm and two in player pathways to better identify future Black Caps and White Ferns.

CW’s community arm currently numbers five employees, headed by Nevin and including former titlewinning Blaze coach Borthwick.

Mitchell, formerly New Zealand Football’s community football director who was appointed Peter Clinton’s successor in April, said that clubs and staff ‘‘fully supported’’ the plans but wouldn’t speculate on staff numbers when the restructure was complete.

‘‘It’s to be determined once we work through this process. It is quite fluid and there’s likelihood that people will need to make certain decisions,’’ said Mitchell.

‘‘There may be some roles we exit over an extended period of time. Until we know where it sits I can’t comment on the detail.’’

No staff had yet departed the organisation, said Mitchell, who last month identified CW’s recent ‘‘financial challenges’’ as a key area to address.

CW’s board commissioned an independent review of the organisation in April, led by former CEO of the Hillary Commission (now Sport NZ), Peter Dale.

The review included a range of ‘‘stakeholder focus groups’’ over a fourmonth period.

‘‘There are some things we need to change in terms of how we operate as an organisation and that’s what we’re working hard on now,’’ Mitchell said.

‘‘We’re trying to take a whole of cricket, a whole of community approach to how we run it. This isn’t a Cricket Wellington thing, it’s about cricket in Wellington, and making sure all the stakeholders know what their roles are.

‘‘Pretty simply: we want to get people playing cricket and then it’s about domestic success, and international players progressing and that’s got to start at a young age.’’

In a statement, CW said it would direct its energy to improving its successful One Club programme which supports the employment of nine clubbased development officers. Two new Cricket Wellington jobs would be One Club managers.

Identifying and developing young talent was another must-improve, hence the two player pathway roles.

‘‘We’re trying to make sure we have a really consistent pipeline and structures to produce better, more talented cricket players and give people opportunities to succeed, from a coaching perspective as well as a player perspective,’’ Mitchell said.