The Ashes have been retained and Australiaโs womenโs cricket team are unstoppable on the field, but the latest inductee to Cricket Australiaโs Hall of Fameโs believes that the gameโs first female CEO is still โa long way offโ.
After representing her country and becoming its most capped female Test player, Christina Matthews wanted to remain at the heart of the game and spent 12 years as chief executive in her adopted state of Western Australia, before stepping down last December.
โIโve had people who tell me Iโm difficult to deal with, and that usually comes from people who I disagree with, who I challenge what theyโre doing,โ Matthews said.
โI think you can only ever be true to yourself and what you believe in and whatever happens around that so be it.
โThere are different standards in terms of how women and men administrators are judged. You know, Iโve been told in the past that Iโm a really good administrator for a woman. You kind of want to say โand whatโs the differenceโ?โ
Christina Matthews (with gloves) celebrating while playing for Australia in 1987Credit: Cricket Australia
During her tenure at WA Cricket, the state won 14 elite-level titles across Australiaโs womenโs and menโs domestic competitions and produced 31 international players. Despite her achievements as an administrator, Matthews doubted that she had a real shot of securing the gameโs top role.
โI never really thought it was going to be anything because people kept telling me it was a manโs job and I hadnโt had enough experience; [that] being a state CEO was no preparation for being CEO of Cricket Australia,โ Matthews said.
โSo I had plenty of people telling me why I wouldnโt get it. I just wanted the opportunity to present my ideas and understand where I thought the game would go. So I got to do that, it was really good. I got good feedback from some of the directors about that and you know, you move on.โ
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