Cricket Australia chief executive Kevin Roberts says Greg Chappell’s replacement on the national selection panel will have plenty of Twenty20 expertise.
Adding some Twenty20 expertise to the national selection panel shapes as one of Cricket Australia’s most urgent priorities in the aftermath of the Ashes.
Tim Paine’s team face Pakistan and New Zealand in Tests during the home summer but the T20 World Cup, which Australia is hosting the men’s and women’s editions of in 2020, looms large.
Australia have never won the men’s T20 World Cup and now have a golden opportunity to do so.
Justin Langer, who CA chief executive Kevin Roberts praised for retaining the urn but also the cultural transformation achieved since the Cape Town cheating scandal, has a good understanding of the shortest format from a title-laden stint as Perth Scorchers coach.
Langer’s former right-hand man at the WACA, Ben Oliver, will now recruit a selector with T20 intel as he seeks to fill the void left by the resignation of Greg Chappell.
(Photo by Matt King – CA/Cricket Australia/Getty Images)
It is the first major assignment for Oliver, recently appointed Pat Howard’s successor alongside fellow high-performance boss Drew Ginn.
Australia face Sri Lanka in a T20 at Adelaide Oval on October 27, underlining the urgency of the situation.
“It’s something Ben Oliver is working on back home as we speak,” Roberts told reporters in London.
“It’s one of the early things he needs to get across and needs to decide. I look forward to those discussions with him over the next month or so.”
Roberts suggested CA was not specifically focused on replacing Chappell with a recently-retired player – a model England started with 29-year-old selector James Taylor.
“It is a matter of having a really deep knowledge of T20 cricket,” he said.
Mark Waugh, who stepped down as a selector last year, had previously overseen T20 squads.
Ricky Ponting, who watches plenty of Big Bash League as a commentator and was close to become Australia’s T20 coach last year, would be an ideal candidate.
But Ponting is more likely to continue as a consultant coach in future series, with his World Cup stint considered a great success.
Roberts is in London for the series finale but will head home on Monday via Pakistan for talks regarding Australia’s next tour of Pakistan, scheduled for 2022. Australia haven’t toured Pakistan since 1998.
Yawn of the Dead
Guest
Has to be S R Watson. a giant of the format.
Paul
Roar Guru
If the next priority for selectors is the T20 World Cup, so the next selectors has strength in that area, does that mean this person will opt out when it comes to selecting Test sides, if they have little or no experience in that area? Does it mean we have a selection "horses for courses" policy, with different selectors being used for the three forms of cricket?