Dion Nash quits New Zealand Cricket board after NZ20 league decision

Former Black Cap Dion Nash was elected to the NZ Cricket board in 2024. Photo / Photosport

By Dana Johannsen of RNZ

The first signs of fallout from New Zealand Cricket’s decision to pursue a new franchise-based Twenty20 competition have emerged, with board member Dion Nash resigning just hours after the announcement.

NZC confirmed on Monday morning it will back the proposed NZ20 league as the preferred model for its domestic T20 future.

The board had been weighing up whether to support the NZ20 model or pursue a plan to enter a New Zealand-based team into Australia’s Big Bash League – a process that had already exposed deep divisions within the sport.

By the afternoon, the former Black Cap had stepped down from the board, saying he could no longer support the organisation’s direction.

“Ultimately, I reached a point where I felt it was the right time to step aside,” he said.

Elected in 2024, Nash’s departure lays bare the divisions at the top of the game, with debate over the future of T20 cricket having already contributed to significant governance upheaval in recent months.

The debate traces back to last year, when a consortium of players, investors and administrators put forward a pitch for a privately owned franchise league aimed at modernising the game and attracting global investment.

At the same time, NZC was considering its own options for the future of the domestic game, including a proposal to field a New Zealand team in Australia’s Big Bash League – an option understood to have been favoured by former chief executive Scott Weenink.

The national body commissioned Deloitte to assess the various pathways, but what began as a strategic review quickly hardened into a fundamental dispute over the direction of the sport, ultimately pitting the CEO and key stakeholders across the game.

Weenink stepped down from his role before Christmas, citing the fundamental differences with the game’s stakeholders as the driver.

NZC chair Diana Puketapu-Lyndon acknowledged Nash’s exit, and thanked him for his service.

“We thank Dion for his dedicated service and valuable contributions,” she said.

“We wish him well in his future endeavours.”

In a statement released earlier on Monday, Puketapu-Lyndon said the board’s decision in favour of NZ20 wasn’t a final commitment, and was subject to reaching key commercial and structural measures.

She said the board thoroughly debated the two options and said several changes to the original NZ20 proposal would need to be negotiated before a final decision was made.

– RNZ