Cricket Australia has retained its executive general manager and high-performance expert, Pat Howard, for an extended two-year period until 2019. His contract was on the verge of expiring at the end of June 2017.
Howard, a former professional rugby player, joined as the first man in this particular role which was introduced in 2011 after the Argus review. Since then, he has played a central role in managing the team and has so far has served a six-year long term.
“Pat is a dynamic, passionate executive and the board and I are delighted that he has agreed to extend his term,” James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia CEO, said. “He has led the evolution of a new team performance structure and success-driven culture for both men’s and women’s cricket in Australia and we see his ongoing contribution as integral to our future plans.
“Among many other things, Pat has driven the improvement of structures and systems that support the Australian Cricket Pathway for all young players, with a firm eye on identifying and nurturing talent at an early stage and enabling them with the best opportunities to perform at the highest possible level.”
His retention seems like a good decision, as CA lost several influential figures in the past year including former commercial boss Mike McKenna and most recently head of operations, Sean Cary.
Speaking after the fresh appointment, Howard highlighted the importance of being competitive and positive in the world of sports. He has supported the Australian team through the good and bad times having been the part of the dressing room during a couple of highly prestigious moments including the 2013-14 Ashes victory and 2015 World Cup win at home and also a couple of tough series against South Africa and India.
“In sport, there is always highs and lows but if I was to reflect, I am particularly pleased with how much our pathways and talent identification systems have grown, with more than 300 contracted male and female players, as well as the coaching pathway for coaches in Australian cricket,” Howard said.
He was also optimistic about his future term.
“The cricketing landscape is changing rapidly and the need to continue to adapt will be important, this means there is still a lot to achieve.
“What the previous 12 months have shown is that we have a lot of talent and depth in the system to be ready for these changes. The goal hasn’t changed, we want to be number one in all three formats of men’s and women’s cricket.”