Australia consider full-time chairman of selectors

Andrew Hilditch could be forced into a difficult decision between selection duties and his legal career if recommendations from the Player Pathway Review Committee are adopted. A major overhaul of Australia's selection framework, including the appointment of a full-time chairman to the national panel, was one of the proposals included in a memorandum circulated among state and national officials after the most recent Cricket Australia board meeting.

Hilditch, Australia's chairman of selectors, currently balances his duties with his role as an Adelaide solicitor. The dual jobs became a point of contention during the recent Australian summer, when sections of the local media criticised him for not attending parts of the Test series defeat to South Africa.

James Sutherland, Cricket Australia's chief executive, offered Hilditch his unequivocal backing at the time. But just whether Hilditch will be able to retain both posts in future is now in doubt following the release of the review committee's recommendations.

The five-point plan, which has been seen by Cricinfo, recommends a full-time chairman of selectors as part of a broader initiative to "professionalise the NSP (National Selection Panel)". There were also proposals to expand the role of the head of the Centre of Excellence to oversee a youth selection panel, and for a "talent manager/selector" to be employed by each state and report back to both state and national boards.

The memorandum stated that the Cricket Australia directors had endorsed the suggestions "subject to the CA Board approving the 2009-10 budget", and requested CA's management to provide the June board meeting with "a timeline for the implementation of these recommendations." But Michael Brown, the Cricket Australia operations manager, was hesitant to discuss the pathway review, describing it as "a work in progress with many elements and no certainty on (the) outcome."

The pathway review, an initiative of Cricket Australia's High Performance Unit, also recommended a refocussing of "state cricket to produce Australian players" and a restructuring of both men's and women's pathway programmes.