Players named for CA review panel

Former Test players Shane Watson and George Bailey will join current national leaders Tim Paine and Rachael Haynes on a panel appointed to draft a charter of behaviour to which Australia's men's teams will adhere in the wake of the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal.

The player review, overseen by ex-Test opener Rick McCosker with expertise from the Director of Australia's Centre for Ethical Leadership, Peter Collins, will also include incumbent fast bowler Pat Cummins and the yet-to-be-named replacement for Darren Lehmann as men's team coach.

Running parallel to the examination of team conduct and other factors that might have led to events in South Africa will be a broader review of the relationship between player behaviour and cultural, organisational and governance issues within Cricket Australia and throughout cricket nationally.

That independent process will be led by Dr Simon Longstaff AO, Executive Director of the Sydney-based Ethics Centre, with the tandem analyses charged with ensuring that the incident that has rocked Australian cricket is never repeated.

The over-arching review will include a focus on the recent incident-laden Qantas Tour of South Africa and explore whether the culture that exists within CA and other administrative and team performance bodies nationwide played a role in the decisions that led to the ball-tampering incident.

Both inquiries will begin immediately and CA anticipates the findings – which will be made available upon completion, though the information gathering will remain confidential – can start to be implemented prior to the start of the upcoming 2018-19 summer.

"We understand and share the disappointment of fans and the broader Australian community about these events," CA Chairman David Peever said in announcing details of the concurrent reviews today.

"The board is determined to do all we can to prevent such events from ever happening again.

"We have full confidence that Simon (Longstaff) and his team, along with Rick (McCosker) and the player panel will be able to fully review and identify recommendations for improvement."

The proposed behavioural charter for men's teams to be drafted by the player review panel will aim to articulate a balance between the performance standards demanded by elite competition with the expectations the wider cricket community holds for players as role models, both on and off the field.

Findings from the player review, which includes Paine as Australia's new Test captain, Haynes as a recent leader of the national women's team during Meg Lanning's injury lay-off and Watson as a representative of the Australian Cricketers' Association, will be incorporated into the over-arching organisational review.

Also released today were the terms of reference for the wider review overseen by the Ethics Centre, which states on its website is "an independent not-for-profit organisation that has been working for over 25 years to help people navigate the complexity and uncertainty of difficult ethical issues".

The reference terms that stem from Cameron Bancroft's use of sandpaper to alter the state of the ball during the third Test against South Africa and which led to suspensions for him (nine months), and team leaders Steve Smith and David Warner (both 12 months) go beyond making sure that behaviour does not reoccur.

They also aim to ensure fans can re-engage with Australia's men's team with a specific goal of enabling children and adults to be proud of national outfits and players while also enjoying the on-field entertainment and results they bring.

The Ethics Centre's review will be a four-stage process to:

•            Work out the principal attributes such as purpose, values and principles that define and underpin the culture that CA wants to create and sustain.

•            Seek input from a wide range of people within and outside Australia's cricket structure, including Board members, management and staff at CA as well as State and Territory associations, former and current players, the ACA, commercial partners and media representatives along with others.

•            Draft an explanatory framework that explains why gaps exist in the development and deployment of the 'targeted culture' and provide possible solutions as to how those gaps can be closed.

•            Deliver findings and then work with CA to develop a plan for their implementation, including a program to better align CA's aspirational cultures with those that exist.

"This review should not be too broad for outcomes to be implemented, nor should it be too narrow to limit appropriate reflection and the opportunity for change," the terms of reference explain.

In acknowledging that he found the events at Cape Town last March as "heartbreaking", CA Chief Executive James Sutherland today acknowledged some responsibility for what happened on the field at Newlands when the sandpaper was produced can be sheeted home to the nation's administrative bodies.

"I think everyone in the organisation needs to take some responsibility across Australian cricket," Sutherland told Melbourne radio station SEN's ‘Whateley' program today.

"The development of our players, the compass they use on the ground to play the game hard but fair aligns to the expectations of the Australian public.

"Certainly from my perspective, it's something that I'll be looking at myself personally in terms of how we lead the strategy and the direction we provide across Australian cricket."

However, Sutherland said the actions taken in the wake of the incident – which include the two reviews formalised today – suggest that change will be brought to the way top-level cricket is played, not only by Australia teams but other nations.

He pointed to the move by Paine prior to the fourth Test against South Africa where the Australia players shook hands with each of their opponents before play began as a sign of what might come, with calls for change echoed by International Cricket Council Chief Executive David Richardson.

"It's a learning opportunity for the game, and I think right now we're in a place where these sorts of opportunities can lead to the game being better," Sutherland said today.

"The fans have spoken loudly about what their expectations are.

"I know already within the Australian team, they've responded to that.

"Tim Paine has been very thoughtful about his views on that as captain (and) others in Australian cricket are also thinking along those lines.

"I think people across world cricket are thinking along those lines as well.

"It's not just the Australian cricket team that has misbehaved in recent times.

"As David Richardson has said, a number of players from different countries have been involved in incidents over the course of the last couple of months.

"It's something he and others want to address."