"Absolute disgrace": Why Cricket NSW sacked the wrong man

When it comes to Greg Shipperd's sacking as NSW and Sydney Sixers coach, I just think it's an absolute disgrace.

This is a guy who, over the last eight seasons with the Sixers, has taken them to the finals.

We look at the Australian cricket team at the moment playing ahead of the T20 World Cup, and there are four of them from that Sixers team playing in there.

Look at someone like Joel Davies, who was the Andrew Symonds MVP of the BBL. Instead of celebrating that success, Cricket NSW CEO Lee Germon walks into Greg's apartment at the Adina and says, 'Mate, you're done, we've got no faith in you. The Sixers aren't performing well enough or winning enough, and you're done at the end of the year'.

I just cannot believe how that's possible. I heard about this halfway through the season to the point where I went to Greg Shipperd during the season and said, 'Mate, I hear that Lee's coming for you. What have you heard?'.

To Greg's credit, you know, he looked back at me and said, 'Mate, I haven't heard any of that'. But that turned out not to be true.

To have to deal with that during the middle of the season must have been so tough.

While he's been given the opportunity to go on and keep coaching New South Wales until the end of the season, which I think is a feather in his cap, the playing group would be lost.

They've won as many games as second in the Sheffield Shield, and they can still win the Sheffield Shield and One Day Cup. Imagine losing your coach after going on to win the Shield or One Day Cup.

I'm rattled by it. I like Greg Shipperd, but that's for good reason. He's an unbelievable man-manager and coach.

Lee Germon is trying to say that we need to get back to how we were winning 20 years ago... but that team was stacked, filled with NSW greats that had time to come back and play for the state after Australian duties.

We're talking about the Waugh brothers, Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark, Stuart MacGill and others.

I'm asking whether Lee is going to hold himself to the same account that he does his coaches, because under his reign, it's been underwhelming. One of the few shining lights during this period has been Greg Shipperd.

He's had six or seven years, and he alone has nothing to show for it. Even though they won the Shield in his first year, that can't be attributed to him.

He got handed the keys to the new centre Cricket Central, which is unbelievable. Since then, all he's done is, in his own words, is produce inconsistent results.

He's sacked a lot of good people, and I think it's about time that the board has a look at this guy who is running things.

I don't think Lee's position is tenable after this... under his tenure, he's created instability and mixed messages.

It's black and white, as simple as it gets.

It's time for change, but it shouldn't have been Greg where that shift was made.