Become a member to join in Australia's biggest sporting debate, submit articles, receive updates straight to your inbox and keep up with your favourite teams and authors.
Justin Langer’s former right-hand man Ben Oliver and ex-Olympic rower Drew Ginn will take over Pat Howard’s old role at Cricket Australia before the start of the Ashes.
Cricket Australia (CA) confirmed on Monday morning that the lengthy search for Howard’s replacements was finally over, after the former executive was sacked last November.
Oliver has previously worked with Langer as high-performance manager at the WACA, joining Western Australia just before Langer and helping rebuild them to numerous one-day and Twenty20 titles.
The former Victoria and Tasmania first-class player has also previously been the head of women’s cricket for CA and worked with the International Cricket Council.
He’ll now be responsible for both men’s and women’s national teams, Australia A squads and the selection process of those sides.
“I have devoted most of my adult life to cricket, in both playing and high-performance roles,” Oliver said.
He will start alongside Ginn on July 29, just three days out from the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston.
Ginn meanwhile is a three-time Olympic gold medallist as a member of the Oarsome Foursome, but has experience in cricket as high performance manager at Tasmania.
He will oversee domestic competitions, youth teams, talent identification, sports science and pathways, including through premier cricket clubs.
Advertisement
Advertisement
CA had confirmed earlier this year to split Howard’s role into two, a move that was supported by the states.
Sacked in the aftermath of last year’s independent review following the ball-tampering scandal, Howard had been a controversial appointment from the beginning.
He stepped in to the newly created role with no cricket experience in 2011, and was a target of significant criticism from former players throughout his tenure.
Former Australia captain Belinda Clark was left to fill in on the interim, overseeing the reintegration of David Warner and Steve Smith as well as the preparations for the World Cup.
She was a popular member in the role and it’s believed there had been push for her to retain it, but she had long made clear she wanted to remain in charge of community cricket.
