Western Australia Cricket chief executive Christina Matthews announced on Wednesday that she will step down in late March after 12 years in the role. She is one of only a few women to hold a chief executive position at a first-class cricket association. During her tenure, which oversaw a highly successful period for WA with the men’s and women’s teams combining for 14 titles. “I probably started thinking about it nine or 10 months ago,” said an emotional Matthews at a packed media conference. Having replaced Graeme Wood in late 2011, Matthews’ no-nonsense leadership led to a cultural overhaul and improvement on the field. Her detractors have often seemingly been dismayed at Matthews’ progressive push and she’s had to navigate a membership base that skews older and male. “Ego is a wonderful thing. And one of the things in life you have to be careful of is that you’re not making decisions for your own ego,” Matthews said. “Yeah, it would have been nice to cut a ribbon and all that sort of stuff. But the real hard work has been done and now it’s time for that to be completed.”
