SYDNEY: Chairman of selectors Rod Marsh has stepped down with immediate effect after a humiliating run of five heavy Test defeats, Cricket Australia said Wednesday.
The former wicketkeeping great, 69, stepped down amid recriminations about the poorly performing team which crashed to a third-straight home series defeat to South Africa on Tuesday. “This is my own decision and no one within Cricket Australia has pressured me or even suggested that I should do this,” Marsh said in a statement.
Cricket Australia said it would hold an extraordinary meeting later Wednesday to decide on an interim replacement, with an announcement “in due course”.
Marsh, one of several leading cricket officials under intense pressure, had previously insisted he would see out his contract which runs to the middle of next year.
But on Wednesday he said it was time for a new perspective after a run of defeats which has prompted severe criticism in Australian media.
“Clearly… it is time for some fresh thinking, just as it is for our Test team to welcome some new faces as we build for the future,” Marsh said.
“I have always had the best interests of Australian cricket foremost in my heart, and that’s why I have made this decision.” —APP