Jolimont Takes Aim at Foot...

GH watches CA blow off both kneecaps

Todd Greenberg has achieved something that would make him the envy of News Ltd. He has banned the ABC. Not totally, of course. But unilaterally, and with potentially chilling effect. It’s a gaffe. But, ICYMI, a recap.

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Here are the comments by Stuart Clark, the former Australian pace bowler, relating to James Allsopp, Greenberg’s head of cricket, to whom the reporting lines of coach Andrew McDonald, chairman of selectors George Bailey lead, via head of high performance Ben Oliver.

James Allsopp who runs cricket in Australia, the head of cricket, community cricket, is a grade club cricket coach that throws underarm balls to kids. That’s what his background is. He’s a lovely guy, don’t get me wrong. But he now runs the whole of cricket. He can’t tell [Australian coach] Andrew McDonald or [captain] Steve Smith what to do.

“[Ben Oliver] runs high-performance cricket, but I’m not really sure what he does now. Then you have George, who is the chairman of selectors. Does he have the gravitas or the leadership skills to tell Andrew McDonald and Steve Smith or Pat Cummins what to do? He should do, 100 per cent, but I don’t think he does.

Greenberg took such exception to the comments that at close of play the ABC were rebuffed when they sought their standard post-match interviews. He took the comments as ‘personal’ because they were ‘individually about people’. He believes that praise is in order: ‘I want the people who are making a lot of these decisions and who are copping some criticism to feel like the congratulations of Australian cricket.’

There are some layers to this, which include that Clark is a Cricket NSW board member and selector who has publicly skirmished with the high-performance system, and that CA had earlier demanded an apology for the remarks. The matter escalated when this was not forthcoming. There are also distinctions to be made about what is being said and how. Some might detect a note of condescension to Clark’s depiction of Allsopp, a former CEO of Cricket ACT, who was promoted to his current role in June 2024 after three and a half years overseeing community cricket at CA. I don’t, really. It sounds like a rough joke of the kind that might be made at the expense of most of us in the press box. How many Tests have we played to be passing judgement on the works of the wise and experienced leadership of our cricket team? I take that as fair comment. I don’t think my not having played Test cricket disqualifies me or Pete from having a view, but it does form part of the context of our views.