Former Victorian fast bowler James Sutherland has today been appointed the Australian Cricket Board (ACB)'s new Chief Executive Officer.

ACB Chairman Denis Rogers announced Sutherland's promotion to the post in Melbourne as the final step in an intensive three-month long recruiting process by the Board.

He replaces outgoing CEO, Malcolm Speed, who won appointment in March as the International Cricket Council (ICC)'s new chief executive.

Sutherland, 35, is already highly regarded as an administrator, coach and former first-class player. A qualified accountant, he has been the General Manager of the ACB's Commercial Affairs division since the time of the much-publicised players' wage dispute in November 1998.

Previously, he had enjoyed more than six years' experience at another prestigious sporting organisation as the Finance Manager and Company Secretary of Australian Football League club, Carlton.

As a player, Sutherland was a regular member of the Victorian squad during the early 1990s. In four first-class and nine domestic one-day games, he captured 21 wickets for the state. He made arguably his biggest impression during his debut summer of 1990-91, which still remains the last season in which the Bushrangers claimed a domestic first-class title.

Sutherland inherits the role at the end of an exciting period of growth in Australian cricket that has been overseen by Speed in his four years at the helm.

Shortly after arriving in the job, Speed was confronted by the spectre of a tense dispute with the country's players over their levels of remuneration and by the revelation that two of the country's highest profile cricketers, Mark Waugh and Shane Warne, had accepted money from an Indian bookmaker during a tour of Sri Lanka four years earlier.

But he soon showed himself to be impeccably credentialled for handling the complexities of the position. He has skilfully reshaped the activities of a number of the Board's administrative divisions, established outstanding working relationships with a range of key stakeholders, and ushered in a series of spectacular rises in the size of Australian cricket revenue during his tenure.

Sutherland commences his work in the new position at the end of this month. Speed, in turn, will be departing for his new home base of London in mid-July.

© 2001 CricInfo Ltd