James Sutherland’s tenure as Cricket Australia CEO encompassed many pivotal moments both at home and for cricket globally
Daniel Brettig25-Oct-20181998 – Having worked at the accounting firm Ernst & Young and the Carlton Football Club, joins the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) as chief financial officer, working closely with the Australian Cricketers Association chief Tim May to work out the detail of the first MoU between the players and the Board
2001 – Appointed chief executive of the ACB, replacing Malcolm Speed. At 35 years of age, he is younger than the then captain of the Australian cricket team, Steve Waugh.
2003 – Flies to Johannesburg to announce that Shane Warne, his former Victoria team-mate, is to be sent home from Australia’s World Cup campaign for taking a prohibited substance. Warne is subsequently banned from the game for a year. After an ugly incident between Glenn McGrath and Ramnaresh Sarwan on the West Indies tour that followed, Sutherland announces a renewed focus on the spirit of cricket in a speech in Perth.
2005 – Signs a seven-year deal with Channel Nine for free-to-air rights to international cricket worth AUD280 million, the last contract done with Kerry Packer before his death later that year. Also secures a separate deal with Foxtel to cover domestic cricket, including the new state-based Big Bash, forerunner to the Big Bash League.
2007 – Involved in discussions around the setting up of the IPL, and its companion tournament, the Twenty20 Champions League, which reaps a 10-year, USD900 million deal with ESPN/Star Sports. This deal ultimately helps provide CA with start-up funding for the launch of the BBL.
James Sutherland had to deal with the fallout from an ill-tempered India visit in 2008•Getty Images2008 – “Monkeygate” dispute with the BCCI almost brings a premature end to India’s visit of Australia, but the tour continues after Harbhajan Singh’s appeal against an ICC charge of racial vilification against Andrew Symonds is successful. Sutherland later speaks at an ICC forum, at which he argues for league structures and context for international cricket, as well as pushing for better relationships between players and their boards. “We need to look after our players. We need to keep them close. We need to understand them. We need to respect their advisors and their member associations,” he said. “We don’t have to always agree with them, but we should respect their views, as they should respect ours.”
2009 – The state second XI competition is converted into the Future League, limiting teams to three players each over the age of 23 and thereby stripping a host of older players out of the system after many had left in 2007-08 to play in the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League.
2010 – Oversees Australian Cricket Conference at Aitken Hill in Victoria, where the board of 14 state-appointed directors agrees to a governance review with a view towards becoming a smaller, independent body. Draft plans to turn the state-based Big Bash into a city-based, eight team Big Bash League are brought forward from 2012 to 2011.
2011 – Australia’s 3-1 home Ashes defeat compels Sutherland to commission the Argus review into team performance, which results in the appointment of Pat Howard as team performance manager, Mickey Arthur as coach and the new captain Michael Clarke, who replaced Ricky Ponting, as a selector. The BBL is launched, but a private investment float suggested by the board is withdrawn due to a lack of interest in its terms.
James Sutherland and Pat Howard announce the sacking of Mickey Arthur•AFP2012 – Sutherland signs off on a new MoU with the ACA, retaining a fixed revenue percentage model but including performance-based payment bonuses for the first time, as per a recommendation of the Argus review. CA’s new governance model is approved, resulting in a board of nine independent directors. One of the new directors, Kevin Roberts, will ultimately replace Sutherland as CEO.
2013 – Homework scandal in India sees Shane Watson, Usman Khawaja, Mitchell Johnson and James Pattinson suspended for a Test match. Sutherland and Howard, after consultation with the ACA chief executive Paul Marsh, elect to sack the coach Arthur after a further scandal involving David Warner punching Joe Root in a Birmingham nightclub during the Champions Trophy. The new coach Darren Lehmann helps Clarke guide Australia to a competitive Ashes showing in England, before they regain the urn with a 5-0 thrashing of Alastair Cook’s team at home. New broadcast deal signed with Nine and Ten networks, for international cricket and the BBL, worth AUD590 million over five years.
2014 – “Big Three” carve-up of ICC events revenue by the boards of India, England and Australia. Phillip Hughes’ death when struck by a cricket ball while batting in a Sheffield Shield match in November causes nationwide mourning. Sutherland negotiates a delayed start to the subsequent Test series with India and also speaks at Hughes’ funeral. Steven Smith captains his first Test series in the absence of an injured Clarke. Sutherland moves off contract and onto a rolling employment deal with CA. Total participation in the game in Australia passes one million according to CA’s national cricket census.
2015 – Australia and New Zealand host the ICC World Cup to record crowds, and the tournament is won by Clarke’s team. After the loss of the Ashes in England, Smith replaces the retiring Clarke as captain. Roberts leaves the CA Board and joins the executive, immediately being recognised as Sutherland’s likely successor. The Women’s Big Bash League is launched as a companion to the BBL, with the same eight teams and shared identities. Inaugural day-night Test is played in Adelaide.
Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland speaks to the media after Darren Lehmann resigned as coach•Getty Images2016 – Five consecutive Test match losses by Australia, in Sri Lanka and at home to South Africa, compel Sutherland and Howard to visit the dressing room in Hobart and stress that better is required. The selection chairman Rod Marsh resigns and is replaced by Trevor Hohns. The contract of the coach Lehmann is extended until 2019.
2017 – A new MoU is signed after a protracted and bitter fight between the board and the players. An Australia A tour of South Africa is cancelled, and players go without pay for a month until the dispute is resolved in August. Sutherland, having stayed out of negotiations at the behest of the board, works through a compromise deal with his ACA equivalent Alistair Nicholson as the clock ticks down to a tour of Bangladesh. League structures for Test matches and ODIs are finally approved by the ICC, some 14 years after Sutherland began proposing them. Australia regain the Ashes at home.
2018 – Newlands ball tampering scandal results in bans for Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, and the resignation of Lehmann, to be replaced by Justin Langer. A new broadcast rights deal, worth AUD1.18 billion, is signed with the Seven and Fox Sports networks. Sutherland announces in June that he will resign as CEO after 17 years. His chief operating officer Roberts is appointed as his replacement. Sutherland departs after the AGM in October, a few days before the findings of two independent cultural reviews of CA are to be released.
