{"id":907990,"date":"2026-09-28T01:12:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T01:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/907990\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T01:12:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T01:12:22","slug":"former-nsw-premier-mike-baird-resigns-as-cricket-australia-as-fallout-from-bbl-sale-continues-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/907990\/","title":{"rendered":"Former NSW premier Mike Baird resigns as Cricket Australia as fallout from BBL sale continues"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Daniel<\/p>\n

September 28, 2026 \u2014 9:16am<\/p>\n

Save<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

AAA<\/p>\n

Mike Baird has resigned as chair of Cricket Australia after his home state NSW withdrew support for the former premier to carry on as a director over his decision to push ahead with plans to sell Big Bash League clubs.<\/p>\n

Decorated former Test batsman David Boon will take over as interim leader of CA at the governing body\u2019s AGM next month, holding the role while a search is conducted for another longer-term chair.<\/p>\n

\"MikeMike Baird has resigned as Cricket Australia chair.George Chan<\/p>\n

Though Baird had served on the Cricket NSW board before becoming CA chair in 2023, he found himself totally at odds with Australia\u2019s largest state over the issues of BBL privatisation and the game\u2019s financial model.<\/p>\n

Baird was informed last week that Cricket NSW, chaired by John Knox, had withdrawn support for him to carry on as their nominee for another three-year term. The state also rejected a proposal for Baird to move into an independent director\u2019s spot \u2013 vacated recently by Sarah Adam-Gedge \u2013 for an interim period while a new chair was found.<\/p>\n

Former CA chair Wally Edwards spoke out last week at Cricket Western Australia\u2019s AGM, expressing his opposition to the sale of BBL clubs and calling for the CA board to be spilled by the states.<\/p>\n

Editor’s pick\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Baird told this masthead that he hoped his decision to quit would reduce the temperature of discussions between CA and the states, and called for the game\u2019s decision-makers to unite behind Boon.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy term had come to an end in discussion with NSW and I was happy to help the transition to a new chair, but ultimately I leave with absolute gratitude and thanks,\u201d Baird said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a real privilege, and I have appreciated working with every single state and stakeholder. It\u2019s been a real life highlight.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time to unite, and I hope all of cricket will unite behind David. He\u2019s respected by every person in cricket, whether a fan, a volunteer, a player, media, broadcasting, even internationally, David is someone respected from top to bottom.<\/p>\n

\"DavidDavid Boon will step up as interim chair of Cricket Australia.Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cMy hope is there\u2019s a chance for a reset. There\u2019s been a decision made [on the BBL] and CA will continue to crack on with that. But the game is much stronger when we\u2019re united, and there\u2019s a chance to unite now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite its contribution to his resignation, Baird insisted that CA had pulled the right rein by allowing states to go to market to sell BBL clubs without securing unanimous agreement.<\/p>\n

Cricket Victoria is pushing to sell-off 100 per cent of the Melbourne Renegades by the end of this year, while other states are considering their options under a \u201cself-determination\u201d model suggested by South Australia. Baird said he knew that he was risking his own position by announcing the sale process at the SCG earlier this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had started discussions [about my tenure],\u201d Baird said. \u201cI was open to continuing to serve, but I think the process needed to be run, the discussions needed to be run and done, and from my point of view it was only decided in the past week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baird was chair during a period of significant success on the field, and he listed the 2023 men\u2019s ODI World Cup victory in Ahmedabad and the women\u2019s T20 Cup win at Lord\u2019s this year as high points.<\/p>\n

But he has also joined former chairs David Peever (2018) and Earl Eddings (2021) as CA chairs who fell afoul of NSW and Knox, who evolved from curious explorers of private investment in the BBL to dogged opposers over the past year.<\/p>\n

\"CricketCricket NSW chair John Knox.Louie Douvis<\/p>\n

Fellow NSW directors Ed Cowan and David Gallop were also involved in discussions with Baird that ultimately led to his exit.<\/p>\n

Given this cycle of dysfunction, which has coincided with heavy debate over the financial sustainability of Australian cricket, Baird agreed that it was time for further changes to the way the game was governed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe states are looking at governance and I think it\u2019s needed,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is a need to look at what\u2019s the best form of governance in the world, looking at other sports, what can we adopt and learn,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"NSWNSW Premier Chris Minns with Cricket Australia chairman Mike Baird (right) and Australian cricketers Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazlewood in 2024.Edwina Pickles<\/p>\n

\u201cBut ultimately, it comes back to a simple principle. Robust debate, constructive engagement. That won\u2019t mean everyone agrees all the time, but there\u2019s alignment around majority or key decisions that are made. My real hope is now is the time to unite.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever the structure, if people start with the principle that we\u2019re stronger together, that\u2019s the way forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baird\u2019s exit will also force a significant reshuffle at the International Cricket Council, where he has served as chair of the financial and commercial affairs committee and worked closely with the global body\u2019s chair Jay Shah.<\/p>\n

The ICC board is due to meet in Bali in November, and Baird said that CA may ultimately need to consider choosing a dedicated director to focus primarily on the ICC table, allowing the chair more time for domestic issues.<\/p>\n

Editor’s pick\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s some merit in thinking about that, it depends who ultimately ends up in the chair, the time and availability,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I can see that working. The demands are significant, the time is significant, and that is one model that could work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boon is the first former Test cricketer to be CA chair since Edwards, and the most accomplished player to do so since Sir Donald Bradman finished his second term as chair in 1972.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is an enormous honour to take the role of Interim CA Chair during what is a hugely exciting and also challenging time for cricket,\u201d Boon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look forward to leading the CA board as we continue to make decisions that ensure the long-term health and prosperity of the game here and advancing Australia\u2019s interests globally.\u201d<\/p>\n

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Friday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Save<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

\"DanielDaniel Brettig<\/a> is The Age’s chief cricket writer and the author of several books on cricket.Connect via X<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"September 28, 2026 \u2014 9:16am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":907991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-907990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=907990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/907991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=907990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=907990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=907990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}