This action has a direct impact on Ashleigh Gardner, the deputy captain of the Australian women’s team, and her relationship with Georgia Voll. Cricket Australia revised its Respect at Work policy during a board meeting, providing clear safeguards for selection discussions involving players in leadership positions who have close relationships with other team members.
Under the revised arrangement, Gardner must abstain from taking part in any discussions about Voll’s selection. This responsibility includes speaking with Australian women’s captain Sophie Molineux and national selectors. The CA board declared that it fully supports Gardner’s decision to remain vice-captain with Tahlia McGrath.
“The board requested an update on it, which we gave, and as a result, Ash was made vice-captain, and the board has a great deal of respect for her. “We have implemented certain additional steps in accordance with our Respect at Work policy.
Because even tho the vice captain has no input in team picks, we want to make sure that either the perception or the actual conflict of selections—as well as the leadership role and potential influence that person may have—put safeguards in place regarding how the policy operates. Apart from that, we’ve decided it’s a personal issue’, CEO Todd Greenberg stated, as cited by Cricbuzz.
Before it was made public, CA was aware of Gardner’s communication with Voll.
Monica Wright, Gardner’s wife, criticised the governing body for not clearly stating Gardner’s leadership position once the relationship was made public and their marriage ended. Gardner admitted on August 13, 2026, that because of her position in the leadership group, an official CA response was necessary.
Why do the safeguards apply to suspected conflicts instead than only those that have been proven?
According to Greenberg, the requirement to recuse oneself does not depend on whether there is a genuine conflict of interest. The policy is intended to address situations when a conflict might only be noticed by non-team members, teammates, or support staff operating in a high-performance environment.
“You’re correct. And we believe that’s crucial. Even if there isn’t a dispute, there may be a perceived degree of tension—not just from the outside, but also from coworkers or employes. Like all sports, we’re all learning a little bit about how these high-performance situations may function, so we’re in some challenging area here. Therefore, we want to make sure that our rules are keeping up with the realities, and I believe we’ve done just that,” Greenberg stated.
The updated policy reaffirms CA’s position that professional sports governance structures must take perception into account in addition to fact. The board has declared that the personal aspects of the case are outside its jurisdiction and that the policy adjustments are restricted to the regulation of selection-related conversations.
Did Voll’s situation influence the captain’s selection?
Greenberg also discussed whether CA’s decision to select Molineux as captain of the Australian women’s squad earlier in 2026 was influenced by the circumstances surrounding Gardner’s friendship with Voll. He clarified that the situation had no bearing on that task.
The board claims that the new Respect at Work policy is a procedural governance modification with no disciplinary ramifications. Gardner’s vice-captaincy remains in effect, and CA has distinguished clearly between the specific circumstances that it deems private and the policy changes, which deal with choosing governance.
