Former NSW and Australian star Brad Haddin and current Cricket NSW Chair John Knox were confirmed as Cricket NSW Life Members at the association’s Annual General Meeting on Monday night.

Alongside Haddin and Knox being bestowed with Life Membership at the meeting held at the SCG, Patron-in-Chief, The Honourable Margaret Beazley AO QC, and Vice Patrons, The Hon. John Howard OM AC and Mr Basil Sellers AM were reappointed to their existing positions.

Retiring board members Stuart Clark, the Hon. Kevin Greene AM and Paul Marjoribanks were all re-elected to the CNSW Board of Directors, whilst Karen Robbins was reappointed as a Board Appointed Director.

Haddin was an exceptional right-handed batsman and wicketkeeper who represented Australia in all three formats of international cricket.

He was a member of Australian World Cup winning squads at both the 2007 and the 2015 Cricket World Cups and NSW teams that won the Sheffield Shield in 2002/03, 2004/05 (as captain) and 2007/08.

Debuting for NSW in the Mercantile Mutual Cup and then Sheffield Shield in October 1999, Haddin became one of the game’s most popular players.

He made his Australian debuts in One Day Internationals in 2000/01, T20 Internationals in 2005/06 and Tests in 2008. In 66 Test matches, Haddin scored 3265 runs at 32.97, with four centuries plus 18 half-centuries; with the gloves, he took 262 catches and made 8 stumpings. Over 126 ODI matches, Haddin scored 3122 runs at 31.53 with two centuries plus 16 half-centuries, while he took 170 catches and made 11 stumpings. In 34 T20 Internationals, he scored 402 runs at 17.47 and took 17 catches and made 6 stumpings.

Representing NSW in 97 First Class matches, Haddin scored 5829 runs at 41.93, with 11 centuries plus 35 half-centuries, and he took 293 catches and made 25 stumpings. This includes 21 matches as captain. In 89 Limited Overs matches for NSW, he scored 2726 runs, at 34.07, with five centuries plus 16 half centuries. With the keeping gloves, he took 124 catches and made 35 stumpings.

Haddin retired from International and First Class cricket in September 2015. He subsequently retired from the Sydney Sixers in 2016/17.

Knox has been one of NSW cricket’s finest servants for over a decade.

He has been a member of the CNSW Board since December 2012 and Chair since June 2018. In that time Knox has been a driving force behind numerous initiatives aimed at strengthening the sport at all levels and positioning Cricket NSW as a leader in Australian Cricket.

Under Knox’s stewardship, Cricket NSW has seen a significant increase in young girls and boys playing cricket, built the best cricket facility in the world, improved CNSW’s financial position whilst increasing grants to members, won the second most domestic titles behind WA, grown Big Bash sponsorship revenue by over 40% and led Australian cricket in international expansion with a strategic partnership with Major League Cricket and the title winning Washington Freedom.

Cricket NSW has remained a leader in producing world class male and female cricketers and in the past five seasons NSW teams have played in 13 of 14 National Under Age finals, winning eight titles, continuing its important role in pathway cricket.

Knox has been a driver in growing cricket within NSW.  Registered participation in club cricket and Cricket Blast has significantly increased over the last five years and this year Knox has overseen the development of a South Asian Engagement Strategy and implemented changes at governance level to encourage greater diversity of representation, recognising the huge opportunity to grow the game outside its “traditional” areas.

Knox has also been a leader in Australian Cricket.  While he has been Chair of Cricket NSW, Cricket Australia has been through a period of significant change with five different Chairs. Knox is the only State or CA representative to have been present since the establishment of the Australian Cricket Council following the Longstaff Review in 2018 and has had considerable influence over the cultural changes and strategy within Australian cricket over that period.

Several important governance improvements were approved by members at the AGM, including the adoption of a gender diversity requirement for the CNSW Board.

This requirement will be set out in the Cricket NSW Constitution and will require there to be a minimum of 40% male and a minimum of 40% female directors on the Board. The Board will track towards compliance with this requirement with the aim of achieving this from the September 2026 Annual General Meeting.

This gender diversity requirement is designed to not only assist in the achievement of both CNSW’s organisational purpose and governance goals, but also reflects best practice in sporting governance and positions the organisation well for future fundraising activities.

To assist the Board and CNSW members in meeting the gender diversity requirement, the members approved a change in the requisite number of directors from the current requirement of nine (comprising six Elected Directors and three Appointed Directors) to a maximum number of 10, through the addition of an optional fourth Appointed Director.