Subscribe Sign in

Sport / New South Wales

Baird quits as CA chair as Big Bash sell-off fallout continues

2 min read Rewritten in plain language

CricketSport

Show what we removed
  • Mike Baird has quit as Cricket Australia chair and will be replaced by David Boon in the interim.
  • Baird had an option of moving into an independent role but said he did not wish to continue without state support.
  • The former NSW premier informed fellow board members on Monday he would not seek re-election at next month's annual general meeting, with David Boon to take over as interim chair.
  • Baird had been on the CA board for six years and has served as chair since February 2023.
  • In a statement on Monday, he again referenced the privatisation of the BBL as a positive move for the sport.

5 sentences from our version of the report, chosen to cover it. Nothing here is written; every line is in the article below. How

Mike Baird has quit as Cricket Australia chair.

Headline check

The one thing this headline claims is in the report.

Figures, names and quoted words in the headline, looked for in the report itself — not in the summary above. One claim in this headline could be checked, so this is a narrow pass and not a thorough one. How this is checked

Read the full reportHide the full report2 min

Mike Baird has quit as Cricket Australia chair and will be replaced by David Boon in the interim.

Baird supported the privatisation of the Big Bash league, resulting in lost support from Cricket NSW.

Baird had an option of moving into an independent role but said he did not wish to continue without state support.

Mike Baird has quit as Cricket Australia chair, after his own state association refused to back its representative in the fallout over the privatisation of Big Bash League clubs.

The former NSW premier informed fellow board members on Monday he would not seek re-election at next month's annual general meeting, with David Boon to take over as interim chair.

The decision comes after Baird lost the support of Cricket NSW, with the country's most powerful state unhappy with the decision to allow private investment.

Baird had served as NSW's representative on the board, and approached it recently to confirm it would not support him in the current circumstances.

He did have the option of moving into an independent role, but AAP was told Baird did not wish to continue without the support of all states.

Cricket Australia (CA) officials maintain they continue to back the call for the privatisation of clubs, which was confirmed earlier this month.

"After much consideration I have decided to stand down as CA chair and director," Baird said in a statement.

"I am delighted that David Boon has agreed to undertake the interim chair role while we complete the formal chair process, and I will undertake a transition process with David over coming weeks."

Baird had been on the CA board for six years and has served as chair since February 2023.

Alongside Todd Greenberg, he formed one of the most powerful duos in Australian sport.

In a statement on Monday, he again referenced the privatisation of the BBL as a positive move for the sport.

"This year CA will report record revenue, profit, attendance and viewership, and most importantly a 40 per cent increase in participation over the past four years," Baird said.

"With recent decisions on the Big Bash I also believe the long-term sustainability is assured.

"I believe Australian cricket continues to be well lead by the CA board."

Baird's exit comes after Cricket NSW criticized the decision to allow privatisation earlier this month.

"This decision risks leaving cricket in NSW and Australia strategically and financially worse off, with direct consequences for our ability to invest in grassroots cricket," a Cricket NSW statement read earlier this month.

You are reading our version, not theirs. This is ABC News (Sport)'s report with its verdicts and loaded words taken out. Plain description stays, and so do adjectives that carry a fact, such as "former" or "federal". The reporting, the facts and the quotations are theirs — quotations are never edited — and the indicators beside it measure this version. Hover or tap Adjectives to see every one left in the text.

How this outlet filed it, and how we rewrote it

No other newsroom we read has filed on this event, so there is nothing to compare it with yet.

Outlet Niral ScoreAdjectivesSourcingSentimentHappiness
ABC News (Sport)as they published this story 8.6 4 48 -0.3 55.2
Mundane Readneutralized from ABC News (Sport) 7.6 4 48 -0.0 55.2

Sign in to react.

Comments

Nothing here yet.

Sign in to comment.

Questions

Readers can ask a question about this story here. Questions and answers are for subscribers. Sign in to read them.

Comments are read before they appear where anything in them needs a person to look. Nothing posted here is ever deleted; a comment taken down keeps its text and the reason, so the decision can be looked at again. How this works