CA chief Jack Clarke confident of Australian cricket’s good future – Cricket News Update
Cricket Australia’s (CA) outgoing chief, Jack Clarke, is hopeful of a great future of Australian cricket following key decisions made by his management during the last twelve months.
The CA Board meeting on Friday, October 28, 2011 will be Clarke’s last, as he is set to hand over the reins to the former Test cricketer, Wally Edwards.
The Australian cricket has been going through a lean patch over the last few years. The Kangaroos suffered two successive Ashes defeats before showing a lacklustre performance in the ICC World Cup 2011.
Following a forensic examination of Australia’s World Cup debacle by Argus review, the governing body made drastic changes to the team management, axing three national selectors plus Andrew Hilditch, Greg Chappell
and the coach, Tim Nielsen who will leave the hot seat after the ongoing tour to South Africa.
Yesterday, the former Aussie skipper, Bob Simpson, pointed finger at the weak points in the Australian cricket, and elucidated that a lot of work needs to be done for improving the game in the country.
Yet, the CA chairman believes that the sport in Australia is moving in the right direction, adding that the management has finalised a four-year plan to make cricket the hot favourite activity in the country.
“Pivotal to this vision is the need for cricket to engage with all Australians. While Australian cricket is often judged by its Ashes performances and Test cricket more generally, the reality is that CA has numerous
other strategic aims that we use to measure success,” said Clarke who is hopeful of generating a lot of revenue from cricket to fund the game at all levels within Australia.
Talking about Australia’s decent performance after the showpiece event, the CA chief seemed optimistic about further improvements and assumed that the side will keep on producing good results in the future.
“Winning the Ashes is naturally a priority but it is not the sole focus. Growing participation levels to ensure cricket’s future and ensuring cricket remains accessible and attractive for all Australians is equally
as important as our Test results,” added the departing CA boss who remained Chairman for three years and will be replaced by the former Test cricketer, Edwards.