Reports: Cricket Australia CEO Kevin Roberts to be axed this week

The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc across the entire globe. Along with human existence, the outbreak has also disrupted the sporting scenario. The shutdown caused by the pandemic has led to many cricket boards incurring major losses.

Amid these stern times, Cricket Australia (CA) chief Kevin Roberts is likely to be axed this week, according to reports. The Australian said his fate would be sealed at a board meeting in the next 24 hours, while the Sydney Morning Herald reported his departure would be announced on Wednesday. According to these reports, Roberts’ axe comes after his inefficiency to handle the coronavirus shutdown.

Roberts was appointed in October 2018, replacing James Sutherland who quit after 17 years following the infamous ball-tampering incident including Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft shooked the entire cricketing universe.

If Roberts loses his job, he will join Rugby Australia and National Rugby League counterparts Raelene Castle and Todd Greenberg as casualties of the COVID-19 crisis. According to reports, the pressure of the axe has been mounting on Roberts since he announced that majority of the staff would be laid off in the wake of COVID-19 debacle.

Kevin Roberts recently announced the schedule for India series

Moreover, cost-cutting is also expected due to the pandemic. The current scenario has left some state cricket chiefs unimpressed as the morale has dropped low in such a situation.

Roberts has fixed the dates for the highly-anticipated India’s tour of Australia later in the year. However, the possibility of T20 World Cup 2020 still is uncertain. Considering the current situation across the globe, the ICC is still yet to make any concrete statement regarding the feasibility of the tournament.

Talking about the coronavirus situation in Australia, the country has so far registered 7320 positive cases and 102 deaths. However, one positive side is that 6838 people have recovered from the novel coronavirus. Things have slowly started coming back on track in Australia. The improvement of the situation in the country might lead to India playing the series Down Under in the presence of crowds.

Recently, Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison had said sports stadiums capable of seating 40,000 people will be allowed to host crowds of up to 10,000.