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Cricket changes will take time, says Argus

19th August, 2011
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Don Argus has warned his far-reaching and scathing review of Australian cricket will take 18 months to yield significant progress. But the immediate casualties are obvious.

The chairman of selectors will become a full-time role, forcing Andrew Hilditch out.

As national talent manager, Greg Chappell will no longer be a selector.

National coach Tim Nielsen will have to re-apply and will probably lose the job, given its scope and responsibilities will dramatically increase.

Argus, the former chairman of BHP Billiton, said on Friday that the review would need time to reap the most significant benefits.

“There’s no silver bullets in any transitions or reform programs … it’s an orderly process,” he said.

“It’s all in the execution now and that’s going to be the test.

“It will take the best part of 18 months before you see the seeds of anything really changing.

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“People will feel a lot better when the side starts to perform on the field, but hopefully this will take a lot of the side-pressures and other distractions away from the team.”

Argus chaired a panel that included former Australian captains Allan Border, Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh and ex-Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive Malcolm Speed.

The review started in April and was prompted by last summer’s disastrous Ashes campaign, where Australia lost 3-1.

There will be immediate changes, with captain Michael Clarke and Nielsen to join the national selection panel.

CA will start a global search to find their national performance manager, a newly-created role, but there is no time frame on the appointment.

That person will oversee the revamped selection panel and coaching among other duties.

Significantly, the selectors will no longer report directly to the board, but go through this new manager.

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The selection panel will feature two part-time members, as well as the full-time chairman, captain and coach.

Hilditch, Chappell and Nielsen will all continue in their current jobs until the performance manager is appointed and then the full-time national selector is put in place.

Argus hopes having the captain and coach on the selection panel will mean less angst among players.

“What we’ve done is to try and get adult conversations going around the panel of selectors and the players,” Argus said.

“Normally communication solves most insecurities – if we achieve that, it will be a huge step forward.”

CA chief executive James Sutherland admits Chappell may want to reconsider his job, now he will no longer be a selector.

Another issue is whether Jamie Cox continues as a selector, given his potential conflict of interest as Cricket SA’s high performance manager.

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The review said ideally, panel members should be free from potential or perceived conflicts.

“However, the first priority is to get the best people for the job,” it said.

Australia aims to regain its No.1 Test ranking within four years and win back the Ashes in two years’ time.

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