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Christina Matthews, the CEO of Western Australia
Cricket, announced her departure, capping a long and impactful term. She stated
she wanted to go out “on top” and thought the “hard work”
over the WACA ground’s ongoing refurbishment was finished.
After 12 years in the position, Matthews, one of
Australia’s most successful cricket administrators, revealed on Wednesday that
she will retire in late March. There are very few women who run a premier
cricket association as chief executives like her.
Matthews, 63, has overseen a highly successful period
for WA with the men’s and women’s teams combining for 14 titles. The men’s team
over the past two seasons swept the Sheffield Shield, Marsh Cup and Big Bash
League competitions.
“I probably started thinking about it nine or 10
months ago,” an emotional Matthews said at a packed media conference
filled with journalists, staff and players. “You want to go out when
you’re on top. We’ve had an incredible time and incredible success.”
A well-liked wicketkeeper, Matthews participated in 47
ODIs and 20 Test matches between 1984 and 1995. Following her retirement, she
worked in a variety of sports administration positions, most notably as Cricket
New South Wales’ general manager of communications and commercial operations.
After a challenging time during which poor discipline
and little on-field performance damaged WA’s reputation, Matthews’ tough
leadership managed a reconstruction. Matthews took over for Graeme Wood in late
2011 and replaced him.
Unafraid to voice her opinions, Matthews’s unwavering
stance brought her international notoriety, and in 2018, she was a contender to
succeed James Sutherland as Cricket Australia’s CEO.
The timing of Matthews’ resignation surprised many who
thought she would see through the redevelopment. “Ego is a wonderful
thing. And one of the things in life you have to be careful of is that you’re
not making decisions for your own ego,” Matthews said.
“Yeah, it would have been nice to cut a ribbon
and all that sort of stuff. But the real hard work has been done and now it’s
time for that to be completed.”
Matthews said she would not seek full-time employment,
but hoped to dabble in cricket coaching.