MELBOURNE
An era ended as James Sutherland joined the growing line of departures from Cricket Australia in the wake of the Newlands ball-tampering scandal, though he insisted that his managed exit after 17 years was the result of more than 24 months of careful discussion with the chairman David Peever.
Sutherland served as chief executive since 2001 and oversaw a period of great growth but also turmoil. Most recently, the South Africa tour shone a poor light on the national team and the organisation.
However, the game’s financial growth during his time was enormous. Some of the major changes included the formation of the Big Bash League in 2011, the start of day-night Test cricket in 2015, and major increases in broadcast rights deals in 2013 and this year.
It is believed that the CA Board had wanted Sutherland to outline an exit strategy for quite some time.
“When James and I were getting clearer about timing we talked about the end of the successful men’s and women’s Ashes summer as a good juncture,” Peever said in Melbourne.
“But then we talked more about it and said we really need to complete the media rights process. There is no good time, there is always something going on in cricket, and so we decided then that after media rights were completed that James would announce.“Clearly, the ball-tampering issue has created upheaval, we’ve got the review process going on.
“I think it has also helped us understand better the extraordinary passion that Australians have for cricket and the importance of us as administrators to make sure we’re tapping back into that passion and respecting that passion, and indeed our strategy goes very strongly back to fans and grassroots.”
Having joined CA as a lieutenant of Malcolm Speed, Sutherland was only 35 when named chief executive in 2001. “My view has always been I’d like to go out on my terms, but at the same time I want to go out in such a way that allows the game to make a smooth transition,” Sutherland said.
“I think that having been in the role for 17 years there are things I’ve come to know along the way that it was only appropriate for me to work closely with my successor but at the same time I’ll be keen to get out of their way as quickly as possible as well.”
