MELBOURNE: Kevin Roberts, the face of Cricket Australia during toxic negotiations for a new pay deal with players, will succeed the long-serving James Sutherland as the board’s CEO later this month.

A former first-class batsman for New South Wales with a strong corporate background, the 46-year-old Roberts has been Sutherland’s deputy for a number of years since joining the CA board as an independent director in 2012.

Roberts beat out a number of credentialled candidates, including board director John Harnden, who organised the successful 2015 World Cup co-hosted with New Zealand, and former New South Wales cricket chairman John Warn.

He takes over CA on Oct 25 at a sensitive time, amid reviews into the board’s governance and the culture of the men’s team whose reputation was left in tatters by the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.

“The game and Cricket Australia have faced some difficult times recently, but we will bounce back,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2018