Board Games — a fatal flaw in Lord Woolf’s review

Sharda Ugra, in ESPN cricinfo

On Wednesday, all was sunshine and roses. The announcement that the ICC’s executive board had decided to split the role of its president and create a new job of chairman was accompanied by the board patting itself on the back. The board’s push for an “ambassadorial” rotational presidency, with the burden of governance on the new chairman was, the ICC’s CEO, Haroon Lorgat, said, “consistent with the recommendations of the Woolf Report“.

The Woolf report pointed out frostily that its recommendations “collectively should remain a priority and should not be cherry picked”. At first sight, a couple of the cherries looked far too juicy to not be picked. The president and chairman issue apart, the board’s assistance programme to help “lower-performing Full Members and higher performing Associates / Affiliates” also turned out to be in line with the Woolf panel. Given that the Woolf report was finally presented at lunchtime on Tuesday to the board, ending up on the same page with two of 65 recommendations the next day was not a bad start.

Headhunting for Aussie cricket coach begins…. Rixon, Moody, Arthur in the line-up

Peter Lalor, in the Australian, 19 October 2011

CRICKET Australia’s new general manager has hit the ground running and will begin interviews to find a new chairman of selectors this week.  Pat Howard, a former rugby union high-performance manager, was appointed last Friday and is being guided by Mark Taylor in the search for somebody to take on the new job. Howard’s hiring has allowed Cricket Australia to fast-track the recruitment of a new head coach and a new selection panel, including a full-time chairman, in line with changes recommended by the Argus review. The organisation announced yesterday it had appointed corporate headhunters to scour the world for potential candidates for the new role of head coach.

Wallaby Rugger Man to scrum down for Australian cricket

Peter Lalor, in The Australian 14 Oct. 2011, with title “”Cricket Australia picks a Wallaby, Pat Howard, to lead the way”

THE man appointed to lead Australian cricket out of the ash-strewn wilderness has played 20 Tests, but they did not involve stumps, red balls or lunch breaks. Pat Howard, 37, a former rugby international, was yesterday appointed to the new position of Cricket Australia’s general manager team performance. He played 20 Tests for the Wallabies during the 1990s and was recently the high-performance manager for the Australian Rugby Union, but admits his cricket playing experience is rather limited.