Cricket Australia announces new executive appointments

Cricket Australia is pleased to announce the following changes to its Executive Team. First is the Appointment of Sarah Pragnell to the position of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and the other Appointment of James Allsopp to the newly created position of Chief of Cricket. 

Sarah Pragnell’s appointment follows the earlier resignation of Samantha Douglas as (CFO) and comes after a highly competitive process. Sarah is a senior finance executive with nearly 20 years of experience in investment banking, corporate advisory and FMCG. She will join CA from the H&H Group (Swisse Wellness) where she is the ANZ/Asia Regional CFO & Group Corporate Finance Director.

Sarah has been with H&H Group for more than eight years and previously held roles with Macquarie Capital, Lion Capital Advisory and Medibank Private. She holds a Masters of Finance from INSEAD and has represented Australia in rowing.

James Allsopp has been appointed CA’s Chief of Cricket, a new role that will oversee all cricket functions including community cricket, talent pathway programs, high performance and national teams. 

Ben Oliver will continue as EGM National Teams and as a member of the CA Executive team. Ben has overseen a period of incredible success for Australian cricket including victories in the ICC Men’s Test World Championship and ODI World Cup, Women’s T20 and ODI World Cups and retention of both the Men’s and Women’s Ashes. This change will enable Ben to have an even more concentrated focus on the performance of Australia’s world champion teams at a time of increasing change and complexity across the global cricket landscape.

James Allsopp joined CA as Executive General Manager of Community Cricket and Capability in 2021 after three years as Chief Executive of Cricket ACT. He has extensive playing experience including as captain of Bankstown First XI in Sydney Premier Cricket and as a member of the NSW Second XI and Under-19 teams.

“Sarah Pragnell brings a wealth of experience to the role of CFO from her time as a senior finance executive with the H&H Group (Swisse Wellness), as well as her previous experience with Macquarie Capital, Lion Capital Advisory and Medibank Private. Sarah was the standout candidate through a highly competitive process and brings valuable commercial finance skills to cricket, said Nick Hockley, Cricket Australia CEO

“I’m delighted that James Allsopp will become the first Chief of Cricket, a role that will help ensure connection and alignment from community cricket, talent pathways programs, high-performance systems through to national teams. 

“James brings extensive experience and success as a player, coach and administrator and his expertise and leadership will ensure we can build on the success we’ve had across all areas of the game. 

Hockley also added, “Cricket’s incredible global growth is creating many opportunities as well as an added level of complexity and this change ensures that Ben Oliver is able to concentrate his full focus on the sustainable success of our national teams, building on the amazing results achieved in recent years.“I’m confident these appointments will have strong benefits for cricket at all levels as we look towards what will be an exciting and challenging season including the five-Test NRMA Insurance Border-Gavaskar Trophy and the CommBank Women’s Ashes series."

“Together with the excitement of Big Bash Leagues, these blockbuster series will help drive growth in junior participation programs and competitions across the country," he added.