Cricket Australia chair Mike Baird rejects accusations of hypocrisy over Afghanistan from the outgoing International Cricket Council chair Greg Barclay

“Any game that has women as a key strategic driver with opportunities [to grow], they need to actually walk that. So from our point of view that’s the position we’ve taken, people have different views of course, but we’re very comfortable with the position we’ve taken.”

Speaking specifically about still playing Afghanistan in World Cups, Baird said: “There’s all types of lines you can draw. We’ve drawn a line, we’ve taken a position and we’re proudly standing up where we think we should. I think that event that’s going to come at the end of January is a celebration of women and what we’re seeing in the women’s game in this country. We remain proud of it.”

Baird stated that CA respected India’s decision to ban open training sessions for the rest of the tour after up to 5000 spectators crammed in to watch the tourists in Adelaide on Tuesday night, but stressed that the Australian side took a different view.

“It’s a difficult time when you’re going into a competitive Test series and different teams will take different approaches. We understand that,” he said. “There’s huge pressure that comes and all types of things that can distract, from our point of view we love the fans.

“Our players are open and available and they enjoy it as well. So we want our fans to be connected to these players.

“It’s a once-in-a-generation team, once-in-a-generation players, and the chance to see them train and understand as I once did at the SCG nets, how far short my game was. I thought I was facing pace bowling and it turns out I wasn’t. So that sort of experience, that’s how the game is going to grow, fans connect and understanding. India have taken a position on that and we respect that.”

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Greenberg, meanwhile, said he had ultimately decided to go for the CA job after concluding – by writing a question to himself on a whiteboard at home – that he could do more for cricket by replacing Nick Hockley than by remaining the ACA boss.

He also admitted that his players’ union background may be a challenge in terms of building relationships with India’s powerful BCCI, which does not recognise players associations, but that he would take useful lessons from his tempestuous time running the NRL.

“I’m really looking forward to developing relationships,” Greenberg said of the BCCI. “I come potentially from the dark side in their view, but I’m hoping there are no sides and we can work together.

“People often say rugby league is a tough collision sport, and that’s off the field. And I learnt plenty. I learnt an enormous amount of the importance of bringing stakeholders together and the importance of not running one out and thinking you have all the answers.

“It’s pretty clear the global system of cricket is changing, franchise cricket is putting pressure on bilateral cricket, and the way we’ve known cricket for such a long time in this country is changing in front of our eyes. We have to get our heads around that. Cricket is not a sport that has traditionally loved change.”

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