Greg Rowell, the former Queensland and Australia A fast bowler, has emerged as the Queensland Cricket nominee to fill the one remaining vacant spot on the Cricket Australia Board. He replaces Michael Kasprowicz after his resignation last year and steps in after Ian Healy withdrew from the process.

Alongside the former New South Wales premier Mike Baird and the ex-WACA deputy chair Vanessa Guthrie, Rowell, 54, will fill the vacancies left by Kasprowicz, the retired Bendigo Bank chair Jacquie Hey and the additional tenth spot added to the CA board last year.

Healy had been set to take Kasprowicz's place but withdrew due to tensions in Queensland around his various media, corporate and entrepreneurial roles, especially as one of the helmsmen for a proposed privately-owned amateur T20 competition. Rowell has, by contrast, assiduously worked in grassroots administrative roles for some years as well as being previously nominated for the board of Queensland Cricket without success. He is also an accomplished lawyer and the president of the Western Suburbs district club.

Back in 2007-08, Rowell ran as the Labor candidate for Lord Mayor of Brisbane, losing out to the then incumbent Campbell Newman, who later went on to a brief reign as Premier of Queensland. Chris Simpson, the Queensland chairman, said that Rowell's playing career - in which he enjoyed considerable success for Queensland but also faced considerable adversity - was an advantage, as was the Western Suburbs' standing as one of the more progressive cricket clubs in Brisbane.

"On behalf of the Board, I'd like to thank the nominations committee for the hard work they did working through the large number of applications for the role,'' Simpson said. "It was a lengthy and thorough process and the Board was very pleased when Greg was proposed. He has a deep and passionate interest in all aspects of the game - from grassroots to the elite. Wests have been one of the leaders in women's cricket for instance, and they have worked hard to be a leader within their community.

"Greg was widely respected for his dedication and skill as a player, and his tenacity in overcoming adversity and injuries as a fast bowler was much admired by his team-mates and peers alike. We are pleased to present Greg as Queensland's recommendation to the CA Board Nominations Committee and look forward to that being endorsed in due course to enable him to take the seat at the CA Board that has been vacant since Michael Kasprowicz stepped down."

Guthrie, Baird and Rowell are all set to join the CA Board in March. Among the major debates of 2021 will also be around whether the current CA chair Earl Eddings is granted a second term, after taking over from David Peever in the wake of a damning cultural review of the governing body in 2018.