Sutherland's possible successor emerges

Kevin Roberts has emerged as a prospective replacement for the Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland, after taking the lateral step of resigning from the board of directors to join the executive management team.

A former New South Wales batsman, Roberts was one of three independent directors added to the CA board in late 2012 as part of sweeping governance reform, but he has now turned his attention to a full-time role as executive general manager one team, strategy and people, directly reportable to Sutherland.

Roberts was chosen as the man to replace Alex Wyatt, a club cricket colleague of Sutherland's who had an eventful 18-month term in the role. Wyatt had been touted as a potential successor for Sutherland, who last year moved from the contracted role he had held since 2001 to a rolling employment deal that allows both him and CA more flexibility to part ways at a time of mutual choosing.

Instead, Wyatt has resigned to return his focus to renewable energy and emerging technology. It was in these areas that he made his name and career, working extensively in Asia before taking on the CA role in early 2014.

Since finishing his time with the Blues, Roberts has developed a strong corporate footprint, spending time with Adidas in Europe and also being charged with salvaging the fortunes of the stricken outdoors brand Colorado in Australia.

More recently, Roberts has shared his CA board responsibility with a role as chief executive of the Australian-based sports apparel firm 2XU. He will be joining the executive management team around the same time as another independent director, David Peever, replaces Wally Edwards as chairman of the board.

"Kevin is an experienced business leader," Sutherland said, "with an outstanding track record in achieving alignment, managing change and building values-based work forces with a sharp focus on growth and high performance, which aligns with Cricket Australia's vision to be Australia's Favourite Sport - A Sport For All Australians.

"In addition to his most recent role at 2XU, Kevin spent a number of years with the Adidas Group in Germany, rising to the role of Global Senior Vice President. Either side of his tenure at Adidas, Kevin led business transformations at Colorado Group/Fusion Retail Brands and Canterbury International.

"Kevin brings with him a strong cricket pedigree and deep relationships within the game at club, state and national level. Kevin played youth cricket for Australia and first-class cricket for NSW, in addition to managing a former commercial partner of CA and being a CA Director over the last three years.

"I am very excited about Kevin's appointment - it is an extremely important role for Australian cricket and I firmly believe that Kevin's experience, capability and passion will complement and further support cricket's leadership, particularly across CA's Executive Team, Leadership Team and our State and Territory CEOs."

Wyatt, who had shown combustible tendencies in a selection of on-field confrontations as a cricketer in England and Australia, was responsible for a broad area of responsibility after taking a role designed to replace those of Marianne Roux (now self-employed) and Andrew Jones (Cricket NSW chief executive).

His major contribution was to push forward a "one team" strategy for the whole of Australian cricket that will be part of Roberts' remit, an approach that urges all states to work as closely as possible with CA and each other. However there was also the publicised step of looking to create a more competitive market for international matches, leading to headlines suggesting that the MCG was in danger of losing the Boxing Day Test - a claim stridently denied by CA at the time.

"I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Alex for his tenure," Sutherland said. "During his time with Australian cricket, Alex has played an important role leading a number of key projects, including our work with State and Territory Associations around a unified working concept, entitled One Team. That process has and continues to bring about important discussion and debate on how cricket will best deliver on its vision and strategy."

Sutherland's long tenure has led to speculation about who his replacement might be, with Wyatt once touted as a potential successor due to his business verve and desire to be an agent of change. The team performance manager Pat Howard has been mentioned as a man capable of taking after Sutherland, while Ben Amarfio, the head of communications, digital and marketing, is also thought to have ambitions to lead CA.

However Roberts' decision to vacate his board post - a position he was due to give up in 2016 - leaves him ideally placed to press for the role should he choose to. Like Sutherland, he has first-class playing experience in addition to his strong business record. For all its changes over the past 15 years, CA and its directors still appreciate a cricket pedigree, as evidenced by the tenure of a former Test cricketer in Wally Edwards as chairman and the ascension of Peever, who once faced the likes of Craig McDermott and Carl Rackemann as an opening batsman in Brisbane club cricket.