CA board director John Bannon dies

John Bannon, the Cricket Australia board director and former Premier of South Australia, has died in Adelaide, aged 72. He had battled cancer since 2007, but been a member of the CA board since 2008.

After a lengthy political career in which he was SA's longest serving Labor Premier, Bannon served on numerous boards but was a key player in Australian cricket both with CA and the South Australian Cricket Association. He was named a SACA life member in 2014.

His time on the CA board encompassed the sweeping governance reforms of 2012, which saw the board changed from a structure of 14 state-appointed directors to nine independent appointees, with at least one being based in each of the six states. Bannon, who was also a political and cricket historian of note, remained an advocate of Federalism throughout the reform process.

The CA chairman David Peever said Bannon's many achievements included his assiduous work to build cricket's connection to indigenous Australia. "As a board, we will miss John's stature, his knowledge and his wisdom," Peever said. "He provided the Board with astute judgement and decades of experience navigating complex and challenging issues.

"Throughout that time he championed cricket's efforts to better engage Indigenous communities as co-chair of the National Indigenous Cricket Advisory Council, a cause he was fiercely passionate about. He also played an important role overseeing the recent governance changes to Australian cricket.

"On a personal level I will miss his friendship, wisdom and guidance. He was always selfless in the way that he was prepared to share his knowledge to better other people and the game. Despite his tremendous experience and depth of knowledge he carried himself with great humility, never imposing his will on others. Our game and our country have lost a remarkable man.

"We extend our deepest sympathies to John's wife Angela and the entire Bannon family at this sad time."

Andrew Sinclair, the SACA chairman, spoke of Bannon's contribution to the governance reform process and also the major redevelopment of Adelaide Oval, during which time he served on the SACA board before retiring earlier this year.

"John made a massive contribution to South Australian cricket, Australian cricket and the recent redevelopment of Adelaide Oval," Sinclair said. "Through negotiations of the Adelaide Oval redevelopment and Australian cricket governance reforms, he was always a voice of reason; calm and considered.

"His unmatched understanding of history will be sorely missed, for no sport can reflect on its current position without knowing what went before. He had enormous knowledge of Australian history, from cricket to politics.

"John was driving various SACA cricket history and museum initiatives. These will absolutely come to fruition, unfortunately without John in person, but he'll be there in spirit and in the hearts of many SACA Members. There is a very strong board resolve to continue John's legacy. The board rooms of Australian and South Australian cricket are much poorer for his loss; he is already sadly missed."

While Bannon was unable to travel to England for the Ashes this year due to his declining health, he continued to work right up until the last few days before his death. He was at Adelaide Oval for the inaugural day-night Test match earlier this month, and had also pushed for a project to preserve and collate the CA board archives, one of many projects that will form his legacy as a major figure in Australian cricket.

SA's current Premier, Jay Weatherill, has offered the Bannon family a state funeral.