Cricket Australia banned the ABC from interviewing an Australian player after day three of the fifth Ashes Test over criticism of key officials including selector George Bailey.
The national broadcaster was not given access to a member of the Aussie Test side for an interview on their radio coverage, as usually occurs at the end of play.
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On Tuesday CA boss Todd Greenberg spoke with former player, broadcaster and Cricket NSW board member Stuart Clark about his comments, which he felt were “personal”.
Clark questioned national selector George Bailey and CA head of cricket James Allsopp while commentating for the ABC, believing they were not willing to stand up to Australia’s coach and captain on selection issues.
“James Allsopp who runs cricket in Australia, the head of cricket, community cricket, is a grade club cricket coach that throws underarm balls to kids,” Clark said on the ABC.
“That’s what his background is. He’s a lovely guy, don’t get me wrong. But he now runs the whole of cricket. He can’t tell (coach) Andrew McDonald or (captain) Steve Smith what to do.
“(Ben Oliver) runs high-performance cricket, but I’m not really sure what he does now.
“Then you have George, who is the chairman of selectors. Does he have the gravitas or the leadership skills to tell Andrew McDonald and Steve Smith or Pat Cummins what to do? He should do, 100 per cent, but I don’t think he does.”
The role of Smith in Australia’s decision-making was raised after they again snubbed a strike spinner, for the fourth time in six Tests.
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Greenberg told reporters the comments were “out of order”.
“When I see criticism of him (Allsopp), I think it touches on the personal criticism. I thought that was unwarranted,” the CA chief said.
“It was made very clear to me that they were not comments attributed to Cricket NSW. They were comments attributed to Stuart personally.
“I’m not going to get into a war of words with Stuart because I’ve got very high regard for him, but when I think that someone’s got it wrong, I’ll say it.”
He added: “On this occasion, I thought he overstepped the mark by talking not just about the decisions, but individually about people. I thought that was personal. I said that to him.”
Allsopp was a first-grade wicketkeeper and represented NSW at the under-19 level, and before joining CA was the chief executive of Cricket ACT.
“We spoke about it cordially. We obviously don’t agree and that’s cool,” Clark said on the ABC about his discussions with Greenberg.
“I will probably see him later tonight at a function and we will probably have a laugh about it. From my point of view there is no point in having a war of words about this, other than to confirm that I went and found Todd.
“I am not going to get into a public spat with Todd. I have known Todd for 20 odd years. We worked together at the NRL. We are friends. We played golf together. We have done all of that.
“We have had disagreements. We will continue to have disagreements. We obviously don’t agree (on this).
“The other think I wanted to say was when they got it right in Adelaide I commended them.
“There are different times and different stages when we have been very complimentary … that has been missed.’’
ABC caller and Fox Footy commentator Corbin Middlemas criticised the decision to limit their access.
“It is extremely disappointing from the fact that people in the regions and people who listen to ABC radio right across the country obviously at this time don’t get the chance to hear from the Australian cricket team,” he said on air.
“The Australian team is a public good. It is not a private team, not private enterprise. They are the custodians of the game as it sits at the moment and is a team all Australians have a stake in it.’’
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