Why we must overhaul cricket’s governance after failed push to privatise Big Bash

May 15, 2026 — 5:00am

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I have spent the better part of my life in and around Australian cricket — as a player, a captain, a selector, a coach, a talent developer, and briefly as an ACB director in the late 1980s.

I have watched the game evolve in ways I could never have imagined when I first pulled on a Baggy Green. Some of those changes have been magnificent. The push to privatise the Big Bash League was not one of them, and I am greatly relieved that Cricket Australia has stepped back from the edge.

Let me be clear from the outset. This was not about resisting change or ignoring commercial reality. Australian cricket must be financially sustainable. CA reported a net deficit of $11.3 million in 2024-25, even after the windfall of hosting India. Player payments need to keep pace with a global T20 market moving at warp speed. These are genuine pressures, and I do not dismiss them lightly. But selling the BBL was not the answer.

The league is one of Australian cricket’s great success stories. It has brought the game to a new generation of fans, filled stadiums on summer nights, and given our domestic players a stage that simply did not exist a generation ago. It belongs to Australian cricket — to the states, the clubs, the communities that........

© The Age