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Team selection not a Nine decision says Cricket Australia

Cricket Australia has denied the Nine Network will have any say in team selection.

2013-04-17_0051Cricket Australia has denied the Nine Network will have any say in team selection, following comments by Nine managing director Jeffrey Browne.

The Australian reports that at a business lunch yesterday Browne said the rotation policy that rested Australian team members from matches impacted on television ratings.

“Last year that balance was skewed too much in favour of resting some players so from now on there will be a lot more discussion between CA and the broadcaster about that,” he said.

Nine understood CA had to rest some players, adding, “but they also understand we’ve got to have the best players on the paddock to rate”.

He also suggested Nine would have more say in the scheduling of international cricket.

But Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said in a statement, “The national selection panel selects the Australian teams. With the volume of international cricket being played, it will continue to be necessary for us to manage player workloads appropriately.

“We’ll continue to consult with our broadcasters on scheduling issues … we have a common goal with our broadcast partners to maximise the number of fans watching and enjoying cricket.”

Meanwhile, Browne also said rights to the next two Summer Olympics plus the 2018 Winter Olympics would be sold as a package.

The winning city of the 2020 Summer games will be announced by the IOC in September, to be held in either Istanbul, Tokyo or Madrid.

Tokyo will be a more attractive proposition to Australian broadcasters because of time zones.

He also flagged Nine’s interest in future A-League soccer, according to the Herald Sun.

“You’ve certainly got our attention and next time around I would be knocking on the door and we would have a good look at it,” he said.

“If we don’t buy it we’ll push the others up for you.”

8 Responses

  1. The A-league would never work on commercial TV.

    The IOC announced months ago that Rio would be included with the next Summer and Winter games package when nobody would bid for it, but Ten said they wanted the Winter games without Rio.

  2. Nine doesn’t have control over selections, but they’re certainly able to voice concern over the rotation policy given how much they’re paying for the rights!

  3. Methinks Mr Browne sees himself as the main character in Howzat 2. Next he’ll be telling the A-league to split the game into quarters so that they can fit in more ads.

    Channel Nine – still number one for hubris.

  4. I’m one of those fans who lost interest in the one dayers and T20 simply because I don’t want to watch state level players while the stars sit in the stands. Ch9 has a point. I’d say CA are being complacent.

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