Australia women's cricket vice-captain Ash Gardner has publicly apologised for the pain caused by her marriage breakdown and said she is grateful Cricket Australia's board has chosen to maintain her in a leadership role, following the disclosure of her relationship with teammate Georgia Voll while she was married to Monica Wright.
Ash Gardner apologises for marriage breakdown, Cricket Australia backs her as vice-captain
Australia women's cricket vice-captain Ash Gardner has publicly apologised for the pain caused by her marriage breakdown and said she is grateful Cricket Australia's board has chosen to maintain her in a leadership role, following the disclosure of her relationship with teammate Georgia Voll while she was married to Monica Wright.
Wright publicly questioned whether Cricket Australia had taken sufficient action, stating there was 'a clear power imbalance' when a senior member of staff has an affair with a junior player, and said Gardner should not remain as vice-captain. Wright also questioned why Cricket Australia had made no public statement on the matter.
Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg, speaking on SEN on Thursday, confirmed the organisation had been made aware of the relationship between Gardner and Voll before it appeared in the media. He said those leading the team had 'been well across this for a period of time,' characterising it as 'new news' only in a media sense.
Greenberg said the CA board retains oversight of all leadership decisions and backed Gardner to continue as vice-captain. He said additional policies would be introduced to ensure that where personal relationships between players had been disclosed, any perceived or real conflict of interest — particularly around selection — would be managed by excluding Gardner from those decisions.
Gardner addressed the matter in an Instagram post, saying her separation was a personal matter but acknowledging it needed to be addressed by Cricket Australia given her position as vice-captain. She said she would not be making further public comment and asked that the privacy of those involved be respected.
- The source does not state when exactly Cricket Australia was first informed of the relationship between Gardner and Voll.
- The source does not detail the specific content of Cricket Australia's existing respect-at-work policies or how they were applied in this case.
- The source does not state whether Georgia Voll has made any public comment on the matter.
- The source does not specify what the 'additional guardrails' or policies will consist of beyond excluding Gardner from selection decisions involving Voll.
- The source does not state whether Wright was given an opportunity to respond to Greenberg's statements made on Thursday.
Read the original at ABC News Australia