Why ‘winning without counting the costs’ must end – thoughts on The Ethic Centre’s findings into Cricket Australia’s culture

The "withering" findings in The Ethic Centre’s review1 of Cricket Australia’s culture and governance have implications for all Australian sports.

In March 2018, Cameron Bancroft of the Australian men’s cricket team with the prior knowledge of his captain, Steve Smith, and vice-captain, David Warner, was seen on TV cameras tampering with the ball2 during his country’s third test against South Africa in Cape Town.

By scratching the ball with yellow sandpaper to make it swing, Bancroft roughed up more than just one side of a cricket ball. He also damaged the reputation of Australian cricket globally and in particular its governing body, Cricket Australia (CA).

In the seven months since the incident, CA has seen its chief executive, high-performance manager, chief integrity officer (who immediately flew to South Africa to investigate the matter), all depart. And, of course, the senior men’s team has a new coach and captain.

Not all these departures flowed directly from the ball tampering incident, but one direct result was for Cricket Australia to commission a review of organisational culture and governance in the senior men’s international team.

Comments (1)

• Josep F. Vandellos Alamilla

  • 21 November 2018 at 19:51
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  Loved the read!

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