Former England captain Andrew Strauss can become the next Chief Executive of Cricket Australia. He has been approached by lead Cricket Australia for the job.
The veteran of 100 Tests, Strauss is has been impressive as ECB Director of Cricket between 2015 and 2018.
Cricket Australia, struggling to manage its financial health, will reportedly launch a global hunt to find the replacement for Kevin Roberts, who earlier this week had to make an unceremonious exit after serving only 19 months of his three-year contract.
Englishman and the ICC T20 World Cup Chief executive Nick Hockley has been given the additional charge of the interim CEO of the cricket body, which on Wednesday has laid off 40 staff members, including former England cricketer and CA batting coach Graeme Hick, in a bid to slash its budget by A$ 40 mn.
“One of the most important roles of the board is to appoint a CEO,” CS chairman Earl Eddings has reportedly said. “That’s our role to do that. We’ll take our time and do an extensive search here and overseas. In the meantime, we have an outstanding candidate in Nick who can run the show in the meantime. I think that’s one of the most important things as a board that we do.”
Strauss has an Australian connect. Wife Ruth McDonald had met him when he played for Sydney University in 1998-99, but the couple had eventually move to England and settled there. Ruth, a mother of three, had died of lung cancer in December. Strauss had quit the office of the England’s director of cricket in October 2018 to spend time with his ailing wife.