What's it like being with the Australian cricket team back in South Africa knowing the backdrop?

Yeah, I mean, that...

And, and that's why I'm here on the ground, Gerard, p- quite purposeful.

I, you know, I wanted to make sure that the players had a level of support, as did the staff.

First time we've been here in that eight-year period.

Um, I was a little unsure, as were the players and the staff, about what sort of reception we'd get and, you know, was there gonna be a level of angst and anxiety in the test? So I wanted to make sure I was on the ground to provide a level of support and be with the team, which I have been over the last few days.

Um, but I gotta tell you, walking the streets, um, being out for dinner with the team, the reception from locals has been fantastic.

... which gives you an idea of, uh, sort of, um, at the risk of sort of disenfranchising cricket New South Wales and, and cricket and that sort, how much of this is playing rank politics?

I- is there a need to regenerate?

Oh, absolutely there is.

And look, I'll make a couple of points, Gerard.

First of all, the current squad that are playing have definitely earned the right to be there on, on their, on their record.

And I'll back them to respond in Mackay.

But it would... it's certainly wrong to suggest, if anyone is, that we don't have an eye on transition.

We are making significant investment in both our Australia A program and our 19s programs.

I- Are you, do you have a mind at all toward a national policy around pitch preparation?

I- is there a need to regenerate?

Oh, absolutely there is.

And look, I'll make a couple of points, Joe.

First of all, the current squad that are playing have definitely earned the right to be there on, on their, on their record.

And I'll back them to respond in Mackay, but it would...

It's certainly wrong to suggest, if anyone is, that we don't have an eye on transition.

We are making significant investment in both our Australia A program and our 19s programs.

Are you, do you have a mind at all toward a national policy around pitch preparation?

Should we be doing better with the Allan Border Medal?

Of course we should be.

I mean, um, our aspiration is and re- remains to be to try to have a, an evening where all of our male players and female players are all together for the night of nights.

Now, that's a very, very difficult ambition to achieve.

Um, and the reason we're doing it as we are at the moment is because I don't wanna have a 500-person black tie event, and then when the Allan Border Medalist is crowned, he's standing in a dressing room in Colombo accepting his award.

It defeats the purpose.

At the moment, we don't have an answer to that problem.

How concerned are you about the next generation of Australian batters, or is it more a conditions and, um, and coaching thing?

What was the, what was the kind of thinking behind that?

Look, I think, uh, a couple of things.

One is it's in March and people are back at work and, uh, there's no school holidays.

So we wanted to get as many people to the game as possible and playing that during the day while people are working at school would have made that difficult.

Um, Clearly there's a commercial imperative to bringing broadcast rights back into the UK.

It's a better time zone in the later last session.

And what we've learned over time is pink ball test matches for us are hugely advantageous for audience.

Has the king accepted your invitation? And presumably he won't be at tea on day five for the

future generations of of players as well and kids who are just enjoying it for the sake of it and aren't going to go on to professional careers when you're thinking about how funding is distributed how your time how your focus is distributed uh between those things how do you make decisions about priorities and and trade-offs do you have a process

Yeah, I do.

And that process has evolved personally for me over time.

But you're right, we've got lots of different segments in the sports industry.

And that's what makes working in professional sport really unique.

Because in one moment, I can be having a really significant commercial conversation, a transaction worth hundreds of millions of dollars with a broadcaster or a commercial partner.

And then I can walk out of that meeting and then have a conversation at a community grassroots level about what's important at the under 12s and why participation matters.

What will success look like for you at the end of your current role?

Why is privatising the domestic T20 Big Bash League in the best interest of Australian cricket?

Okay, so let's take one step back and let's just talk, before we answer that direct question, the main question is, does the current model that Australian cricket operates under, our economic model, Will that be fit for purpose in the next decade as it has been for the previous decade? And what I mean by that is Australian cricket has generated all its revenues from bilateral cricket, bilateral cricket being the Ashes, Australia when we play India and vice versa.

And so when countries versus countries play, we generate our revenues through broadcast and all of our commercial programs.

Is that going to suffice for us in the next generation? And I think the answer points you to the expansion and globalization of T20 cricket, not in a bilateral sense, but in private franchise leagues all over the world.

Now, we have one here called the Big Bash.

It's 15 years old.

It's done a very good job.

Is Australian cricket short of money? Is that what you're effectively solving for?

Is there merit in those who have made the, the opposing argument?

Oh, I think there's merit in all arguments.

Honestly, I do, because this is a little bit of looking through the lens of the crystal ball and saying, "What does cricket look like in the next 20, 30 years, next generation?" And, and this is not about today.

It's not about today's players as much, although of course we've got immediate issues and we always will, but this is about the next generation of cricketers, and is the model that we have been very fortunate to enjoy in Australian cricket, the model I mean by generating revenues out of bilateral cricket, enjoying that revenue, putting it into a revenue share with players, uh, being able to invest in our players and our pathways to make sure Australian cricket's sustainable.

Is that a model that will suffice for us in the next generation? And it's a very big question of which to answer, and people have alternate views.

Um, some view...

Some of those views is we should hold off selling any of our assets, try to do as much as we can now, and generate a return later.

So are we seeing that play out to some degree on the contract front at the moment already?

Is there merit in those who have maybe the opposing argument?

Oh, I think there's merit in all arguments.

Honestly, I do.

Because this is a little bit of looking through the lens of the crystal ball and saying, "What does cricket look like in the next 20, 30 years, next generation?" And, and this is not about today.

It's not about today's players as much, although, of course, we've got immediate issues, and we always will, but this is about the next generation of cricketers, and is the model that we have been very fortunate to enjoy in Australian cricket, the model I mean by generating revenues out of bilateral cricket, enjoying that revenue, putting it into a revenue share with players, uh, being able to invest in our players and our pathways to make sure Australian cricket's sustainable, is that a model that will suffice for us in the next generation? And it's a very big question of which to answer, and people have alternate views.

Um, some view, some of those views is we should hold off selling any of our assets, try to do as much as we can now, and generate a return later.

There's an opposing view which says we should try to take some of that capital now and invest that, so that we protect our future.

So are we seeing that play out to some degree on the contract front at the moment already?

What were the biggest concerns of the, of the no voters as such? What were the, the biggest concerns that you guys got?

Look, I think, I think, Corb, the best way to describe it is there's, there's an active engagement from every single person in Australian cricket that, uh, we need to reinvest in both the Big Bash and the game.

So th- that's, that's a tick.

So I've one there that everyone's in f- fierce unanimous agreement.

So that's a good starting position.

The reality is we have different views on how we get there.

Um, and so the states who, uh, aren't supportive at this stage, who, who I've, I've been in very good dialogue with the leadership of both those states.

I guess the counterpoint would be, if you're in it at all, aren't you better off maximizing the amount that you get out of it? Uh, or if you don't believe in gambling, why don't you get out of it completely, uh, and essentially, you know, just rid yourself of, of any kind of gambling partnership?

It's just probably just harsh on

them.

Yeah, I will never complain or whinge about that level of expectation because part of me loves it as well.

I think we set a benchmark for lots of things.

And, you know, having this been my first full summer in this role, you know, one of the things that struck me over the last three or four months is every time you turn the TV on, every commercial, every ad, every advertisement, every brand has some connotation to cricket, right? Some of them are frustrating me because I'm not getting the clip out of it because they're not one of ours.

But, you know, if you look at some of the brands and the identity with the sport, like everyone wants a piece of this.

So that's a really good thing.

What are the trees that you would like to plant as Cricket Australia's CEO, even if you mightn't get to sit under its resulting shade?

What did you think of the lack of willingness to attempt to play after 2.55?

Yeah, look, I share your frustration.

You've heard me talk about this before.

There's a lot of things that I get frustrated in cricket, but Bad Light's one of them.

Yesterday, maybe more so than ever, as you say, with a full house and millions watching on TV.

I sort of caution those remarks against the remarks of players who said they couldn't pick the ball up and it was really dark and those sorts of things, but I get frustrated that we don't have a solution to this problem.

And I'm always sort of mindful of being critical on issues where I don't have the solution either, but we've got to find a better way in cricket.

How have you taken in, first of all, his legacy and then what Australian cricket needs to do to build on a pioneering figure like him?