Incoming Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg has warned that cricket faces the greatest headwinds of domestic sports in the country but also has huge opportunities for growth and believes the game remains at the heart of Australian society.

Greenberg decided to pursue the CA role when he concluded to himself, via a question on a whiteboard at home, that he could have a greater impact at head office than remaining with the ACA. He made clear he wanted to allow Hockley to complete his tenure without interference, but is well aware he will have a significant inbox of issues – both local and global – when he officially takes the role.

“I’m a realist,” he said speaking alongside CA chair Mike Baird in Adelaide ahead of the day-night Test against India. “I’d say this to you, and I said exactly the same thing to the board, in my view, in Australian sports, cricket has the biggest challenges coming to it of all the domestic sports, but it also has the greatest opportunity and ambition and to marry those two things together will be the definition of success. There are lots of challenges.”

Pressed to expand on a major issue that will be at the forefront, he added: “I think it’s pretty clear that the global system of cricket is changing. Franchise cricket is putting pressure on bilateral cricket, and the way we have known cricket for such a long time in this country is changing in front of our very eyes.

“That change can be really good and positive and commercial. We have to get our heads around that. Cricket is not a sport that has traditionally loved change, so we have to embrace that, and that takes leadership [and] it will take some courage, but it will also take us working together. You won’t hear a lot of ‘me’ and ‘I’, you’ll hear a lot of ‘us’, because it takes a village, and it’s going to take an entire cricket village, if we’re going to turn the ship.”

Engaging with the fans

Greenberg remained adamant that cricket retains a key place in the minds of the Australian public but believes there is work to be done in the relationship between them and Cricket Australia. It was a point also raised by Baird in a recent interview with Nine newspapers where he referenced the resting of key players from the final ODI against Pakistan.

“I think that’s got some real improvement to make,” he said. “And I think the improvement starts with just communication. We want to explain the reasons why we might do certain things. And again, that might polarise opinion. Sometimes people might not agree, and that’s okay, but I think it starts from the premise of being really strong communicators, and you’ve got one of the best in the business as the chair, and I’m going to hope to sort of support him on that.”

As ever for a CA CEO, there will also be the challenge of maintaining relationships with the state and territory associations which can often bring points of tension.

“They’ll always be matters of conflict and there’ll be difficult conversations,” Greenberg said. “But the conversations you resist are the conversations you probably most need to have. So being honest and upfront with people and building relationships. I think we’ve done a good job of that in the game over the last couple of years, but I don’t think that work’s anywhere near finished.”

An aging men’s Test team

“We do have a more aging side, particularly in red-ball cricket, and that won’t be easy,” he said. “There have to be hard and honest conversations between players and staff, and I think those are happening to be fair. In saying that, though, the professionalism of modern athletes are tending to take them longer in their careers; the way we take care of them, the way we rehab them, the way they take care of themselves. I think it’s a very fine balance. We’ve got an incredibly successful two teams. Our men and women have had an amazing couple of years. Let’s make sure we keep our foot on the gas and continue to support them.”

Greenberg was confident that the strong relationship he has built with the players in his four years at the ACA will continue even though he will now need to take an overarching view of sport.

“It does bring a different way [of looking at the game],” he said of his new role. “But in saying that, I think one thing I’ve been consistent on over my four years is that, and the message has been delivered to the players, they’re probably sick of me saying it to them, but for them to grow, the game’s got to grow, and we need to go together. The players enjoy a revenue share, which means if the sport grows, they grow with it. And so I’ve been consistent from day one [saying], if the players in the game work together, we can just about achieve anything.”