Cricket Victoria has backed down from the potentially explosive call to send chief executive Nick Cummins to the meeting where Australian cricket’s leaders meet to decide the fate of the BBL privatisation project, including what to do about the call to merge the Melbourne Stars and Renegades.
With CV chairman Ross Hepburn travelling overseas, the state association had initially planned to send Cummins in Hepburn’s place to the chairs’ meeting, a move that drew major reservations from other states.
Partly this was because, as chief executive, Cummins is not a member of the CV board. But there was also angst, according to two sources with knowledge of confidential discussions, because of Cummins’ central role in the BBL merger, which blindsided the other states early last week.
Contacted by this masthead on Thursday night, Cummins confirmed that he would not be attending the chairs meeting, to be led by CA’s chair Mike Baird, in Melbourne on Monday, and that CV would nominate another director to substitute for Hepburn.
CA had told this masthead that it was CV’s choice as to who attended.
Prior to this decision, at least one state chair was threatening not to fly to Melbourne at all if Cummins attended, while another state wrote to CA on Thursday to strongly insist that CV be represented by a board member.
One other state, Western Australia, will not be represented by its chair, Gail McGowan. Instead, the former federal attorney-general Christian Porter, who joined the WA board in 2024, will attend.
The conclave has been called to discuss CA’s revised “self-determination model” for the selling of stakes in BBL clubs, with each state now to be given the choice of whether to sell now, in the future, or not at all.
This model was drafted up by CA following the collapse of its initial plan for all BBL teams to sell at least a minority stake in their club, in a similar vein to the sale of stakes in teams in the Hundred competition in the UK.
New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia are the three states considered most ardent in their opposition to sale, although the SACA (and its president Will Rayner) had been the association to first suggest self-determination as a path of compromise.
Several states contacted by this masthead on Thursday expressed doubt that a final agreement could be reached by the end of Monday, but referred to it as an important step for direct chair-to-chair dialogue.
Progress of the self-determination model was thrown into some doubt by CV’s decision to merge the Stars and the Renegades, allowing for a “clean” second licence for 100 per cent sale to a private investor.
The final decision as to whether the Stars and Renegades brands will be extinguished rests with the CA board, and it remains possible that the central governing body will veto the sale.
Victoria’s move also raised the ire of the Australian Cricketers’ Association, whose chief executive Paul Marsh has pointed out that no sale is possible without the players agreeing to revised pay and contract terms.
Cummins was grilled by other state CEOs at a regular meeting in Melbourne on Wednesday, which took place in parallel with a CA conference on the future of the game in Australia.
CA chief executive Todd Greenberg used his opening address as a platform to discuss why he felt that selling stakes in BBL cubs was the way forward.
“The potential is vast. But we to have an eye on the long-term future,” he said. “And one thing is absolutely clear – to maintain Australia’s position at the top and keep growing the game’s popularity, we need to ensure we have the funds to continue to invest in the things that have created success.
“We see private investment in the Big Bash – with the appropriate guardrails – as comfortably the best and most effective way of protecting the future of the game from the grassroots to our elite programs.”
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Daniel Brettig is The Age’s chief cricket writer and the author of several books on cricket.Connect via X.