MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – Australia have appointed former skipper Greg Chappell as its first full-time national selector following criticism of the selection panel’s part-time devotion to their roles.
Calls for Cricket Australia (CA) to make at least one selector full-time escalated in the wake of Australia’s Ashes loss to England last year, when the panel was derided for failing to pick a spin bowler in the decisive fifth test at the Oval.
Local media have long perceived conflicts of interest in the panel, which is chaired by lawyer Andrew Hilditch and includes Jamie Cox and David Boon, both of whom retain cricket roles at state level.
The panel’s other member, former fast bowler Merv Hughes, has been ridiculed for running overseas tour groups while acting as a selector.
Chappell, who played 87 tests and 74 one-day internationals for Australia, would vacate his current role as the head of Brisbane’s Centre of Excellence to take up his new post in Melbourne, CA said in a media release on Monday.
“Greg will work closely with the state cricket talent development managers and with the national selectors in a system that now gives us a tightly integrated, national talent identification and management system across all Australian cricket,” CA cricket general manager Michael Brown said.
“A well-defined national pathway which has all of Australian elite cricket pulling in one direction in the interests of our international performance is critically important in what is becoming a more competitive international cricket environment.”
CA said Hilditch would remain as chairman of the selection panel which stands to be reviewed, meaning one of either Cox, Boon or Hughes will be dropped from their roles.
