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Greg Chappell appears likely to become the most influential voice in the future of the Australian Test team as Cricket Australia decide whether to streamline the roles of national talent manager and chairman of selectors.
Current chairman Andrew Hilditch’s contract expires following the end of the World Cup early next year, and the unwieldy nature of a panel with Hilditch as chairman and Chappell as spokesman has created plenty of headaches at CA’s Melbourne office.
It is unknown whether Hilditch wishes to continue beyond the end of that term, and his decision seems to rest largely upon the remainder of the Ashes series, particularly following the extraordinary gamble to select little-known spinner Michael Beer for the pivotal Perth Test.
While as yet there is no mood at CA management or board levels to remove Hilditch, conjecture does exist about the long-term feasibility of this season’s model.
Having started his own law firm after parting company with longtime legal partner Greg Griffin – now the chairman of the A-League club Adelaide United – Hilditch may decide he wants to devote more time to the law having been hard pressed to split time throughout his chairmanship, which began in 2006.
While his predecessor Trevor Hohns stayed in the role for a decade, Hilditch foreshadowed a shorter reign when he was appointed, given the difficult waters he was expecting to have to chart.
“I don’t think you put a time frame on it, I think it’s a matter of whether you’ve got the energy and enthusiasm to keep doing it,” he said in 2006.
“But I think the reality of the next three or four years is they’ll be pretty challenging – there will be changes, and managing those changes will be a real challenge, and I like challenges.
“Certainly, I see the next three or four years as a pretty critical period for Australian cricket.”
Of equal import to the decision is whether Chappell has the time to operate as chairman while at the same time co-ordinating CA’s national talent development program, geared at building a base of potential Australian cricketers that is stretched to its limits by the combination of a poor Ashes summer and numerous injuries to young fast bowlers.
Neither of the panel’s other members – David Boon and Jamie Cox – appear likely chairmen given existing roles with their respective states.
Handing the position of chairman to Chappell would make for a far neater line of communication between the national panel, the players and the public.
A comical instance of cross-purposes before the Adelaide Test highlighted the difficulties CA have had since appointing Chappell alongside Hilditch – the arrangement has been termed a “two-headed monster” in some quarters.
The panel had decided to omit Mitchell Johnson following the end of the Brisbane Test, and while Chappell was party to it, he was unable to convey this to the public through the media because he was unaware that Hilditch had informed Johnson prior to training two days before the Adelaide Test.
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