Melbourne Renegades boss will no longer report to Stars boss

Cricket Victoria has advertised for a new general manager for the T20 team with incumbent David Lever understood to be in the running

A correction has been made to one of the more baffling team structures in the Big Bash League, with Cricket Victoria advertising for a new general manager of the Melbourne Renegades who will report directly to the state association’s chief executive, Andrew Ingleton.

This decision, revealed when the job was advertised, ends a period in which the Renegades’ incumbent general manager, David Lever, was reporting to CV’s head of commercial, Nick Cummins, who also happened to be working as the general manager of the Melbourne Stars.

Lever’s role had emerged after Cummins was initially placed in charge of both the Stars and the Renegades for the 2019-20 season prior to the onset of Covid-19, another model that created more problems than it solved. Ingleton and the CV board will hope this is a case of third time lucky, after the state had abolished the two independent boards of the Stars and Renegades and also dispensed with their chief executives, Clint Cooper and Stuart Coventry, in 2019.

The situation where the general manager of one of Melbourne’s BBL clubs was reporting to the manager of another rather underlined the perception of the Renegades as subservient to the Stars in decision-making, while also creating a host of potential conflicts in a sport that has enough of them without their structural enforcement.

After a grim season for both the men’s and women’s Renegades teams, the two head coaching positions are also vacant, after Michael Klinger left the men’s program for a managerial role with Cricket NSW and the women’s coach Lachlan Stevens elected to return home to Queensland after some years based in Melbourne.

Lever, who was being quoted as general manager of the Renegades as recently as last week when he announced the re-signing of the wicketkeeper batsman Sam Harper, is understood to be a candidate for the new, more elevated role.

“Based in CV’s Head Office in St Kilda, and reporting to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) this position will play a key role within CV by providing operational and strategic support across the Melbourne Renegades business model,” the job advertisement states.

“The General Manager Melbourne Renegades will be a key driver in further developing the Melbourne Renegades to lead the competition in terms of viewership, attendance, membership and commercial support. Critical to this role will be your demonstrated ability to maximise performance in all aspects of the club, on and off the field.”

Aims for the job include to “provide strategic direction and day to day leadership for the Melbourne Renegades”, to “motivate, lead and inspire the full time and seasonal staff of Melbourne Renegades to achieve success”, and to “lead the club positively in all operational aspects to deliver optimal outcomes”.