Sydney, June 15 (IANS) Cricket Australia is all set to part ways with its CEO Kevin Roberts and will be appointing an interim CEO.

According to Sydney Morning Herald, the members of the Australian cricket board on Sunday discussed the appointment of an interim replacement after their backing of Roberts evaporated over the past fortnight.

The report, quoting sources, said his departure was due to be announced on Wednesday.

An interim CEO would be appointed while a worldwide search would take place to determine who would take over permanently, the report further said.
Roberts has been facing severe criticism for his handling of the shutdown since a decision to furlough about 80 per cent of staff at head office in April amid the COVID-19 crisis.

"Frustrated at the stalemate with states and players – and with staff morale at an all-time low after they stood down and redundancies were flagged for this week – directors had become increasingly concerned about Roberts' handling of affairs during the past two months," said Sydney Morning Herald.

Roberts, who previously served as the chief operating officer at CA, won the job of running Australian cricket following the departure of James Sutherland in October 2018.

The 47-year-old was contracted until the end of next year. However, he is set to follow Todd Greenberg (NRL) and Raelene Castle (Rugby Australia) as the third CEO of a major Australian sporting code who has been shown the door in the past two months.

--IANS aak/bbh