Former England skipper Andrew Strauss has emerged as a surprise candidate to become CEO of crisis-ridden Cricket Australia following the resignation of Kevin Roberts.

Cricket Australia has been in a financial mess since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. To deal with it, Roberts stood down 80 per cent of the staff in April, reduced grants to the states and was negotiating for a new pay deal with players. Some of Roberts’s decisions were widely criticised and eventually led to his ouster.

According to a report in The Australian, an influential figure in Cricket Australia has asked 43-year-old Strauss to apply for the post. Strauss had served England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) as a director of cricket between 2015 to 2018.

After Roberts left, England-born Nick Hockley was roped in as interim replacement with the governing body searching for the right candidate to serve as a full-time CEO.

“One of the most important roles of the board is to appoint a CEO. We’ll take our time and do an extensive search here and overseas,” chairman Earl Eddings had told reporters this week.

Strauss, who scored 7,037 runs in 100 Tests and 4,205 runs in 127 ODIs during his playing career, was knighted for his service to English cricket. Before turning up for England, Strauss had played for Sydney University in 1998-99.

Strauss’s candidature is likely to lead to mixed emotions among the public, considering he played a leading role for England during their Ashes campaign in 2005, 2009 and 2010-11.

The South Africa-born former opener also played a role in changing the culture in England cricket as ECB director, which lead the team to claim their maiden World Cup title last year.

After serving three years as ECB director of cricket, he had stepped down in 2018 to be with his wife Ruth McDonald, who died from a rare form of lung cancer later that year.

Hick loses job

Batting coach Graeme Hick became the biggest casualty of Cricket Australia’s cost reduction drive, under which 40 more staffers were laid off. Hick, a former England batsman, is the most notable among those handed the pink slip.

“It’s a really tough call. It’s nothing he’s done, it’s more the impact of the cost cutting that we’re doing because of the Covid-19 situation,” Australia coach Justin Langer was quoted as saying.

“We’ll all have to adapt and again hopefully one of my strengths in the past has been able to adapt to different situations and I’ll have to lead the way. That’s the most important thing about leadership is that you walk the talk,” said Langer.