The background perhaps tells us of a different man than some perceive when looking at the rotund figure of Jack Clarke jnr.

He's an immensely likeable bloke who wears cricket on his sleeve, and feels right at home having a beer with his mates, but he is also one of the most astute administrators the game has known, and his professionalism and ability to get things done are unwavering.

Our Jack can be sophisticated when called upon, but never pretentious. Actually, his name is John Jeffery Clarke, but he has always been known as Jack, like his father.

Clarke is considered by many as not your old-style administrator, or a regular part of cricket's establishment, but then he asks: What is cricket establishment?

"This is my 10th year on the board of Cricket Australia and I'm still trying to find out what cricket establishment is," Clarke says. "I have only ever met great people in cricket administration, and they are no different from your average person."

Clarke has also been on the board of the South Australian Cricket Association for 20 years. His becoming Cricket Australia's new chairman was the first time the states had elected CA's chairman from the same state as the out-going chairman, in this case SA's Creagh O'Connor.

Clarke had been appointed deputy chairman 16 months earlier to help him understand more the issues at hand and to get to know the representatives from other International Cricket Council countries with whom he would be dealing.

Clarke said he could foresee the commitment as chairman would be incredibly demanding so he resigned as a partner in his law firm in April, and, for the first time, before his appointment, CA decided it was long overdue that its chairman should be paid a relatively modest salary.

"These are particularly challenging times to take over the role," Clarke said, with his trademark smile. "It is getting more complex. Cricket is really a mini-United Nations, which probably has its moments when people want to pull their hair out.

"We are running a business and we talk very little about cricket. We have selectors who pick the sides, yet people think that's what we do. Cricket Australia over the next four years will probably turn over a billion dollars, especially through TV deals, which drive the game these days.

"Cricket is very healthy at the moment but it has its challenges. It is probably the only sport that has three formats – Test, one-day internationals (ODI) and now Twenty20. The challenge is to make sure we keep a balance between the three.

"I love my Test cricket but I'm old-fashioned; I was reared on Test cricket but 50-overs cricket has been very good to the game in commercial terms, and Twenty20 cricket is here to stay; it is not going away. It's going to be interesting.

"Twenty20 cricket is bringing in a whole new market. Whether these new fans stay is an interesting thing, but from the interviews we have conducted we have attracted mothers who probably would not go to a Test match or even an ODI, but would take their 10-year-old son to a Twenty20 game because he could concentrate for three hours and both could enjoy the experience.

"Through Twenty20 we are getting a lot more females interested in cricket. People who love Test cricket need to understand that the game hasn't changed, but society has – and significantly. And we need to cater across the whole spectrum. If you get people interested in Twenty20 then they may well fall in love with Test cricket."

According to Clarke, cricket throughout the world has a great opportunity to meet new and exciting horizons when it delivers its next future tours program (FTP) in 2012. It has always set the schedules for the cricket nations over a five-year period, but until now has not considered ODIs and Twenty20 matches as part of the program.

It seems ironic that an American firm, Boston Consulting, approached the ICC, and, in turn, CA with a master plan to help strengthen the status of cricket at Test level. The proposal is for each country to play every other country in at least two away Tests over three years, and with points awarded for each win. Countries with the most points then play off to determine a true Test champion.

It means that when a dominant side like Australia meets Bangladesh, winning earns points so the outcomes are more meaningful. The fifth year is set aside for an icon series, like the Ashes, and the scheme allows for additional Test matches between countries.

Clarke believes the proposed new Test format can be the lifeline for Test cricket. "Test cricket is incredibly strong in this country, and in England, but, while other countries still respect it and it is still the primary game, Test cricket just doesn't get the crowds in those countries," he said.

"Test cricket still commands good media rights, but not as much per day as the other forms.

"The new FTP plan is exciting because Test cricket will be the same, but more meaningful, and what will hang off that is ODI cricket and Twenty20 at both domestic and international level.

"The Indian Premier League (the new Twenty20 series played from April 18-June 1) was an unbelievable success. Its TV rating of 11 for the final was probably the highest rating ever recorded in India. However, we need to look at the format long-term; the IPL cannot be just a short-term fix. We obviously want to do something with our Twenty20 and make it better than what it is now."

However, as much as Clarke can see the changes in the forms of cricket being beneficial for the game, he said what cricket in Australia really needed was for numerous young Indigenous players to emerge through the ranks.

He was deeply taken in by the spirit of the Imparja Cup, a competition for young Indigenous teams, and sang the praises of the Cooktown team, which won the final despite having taken three days to get to Alice Springs after confronting floods and long flights. "It was bigger than an Indiana Jones epic, and the lads won; great stuff," he said.

You have to admire Clarke's enthusiasm. It's real. He said cricket needed Australian football's indigenous role models, such as Maurice Rioli and Michael Long of years gone by, and Andrew McLeod of the current era.

"You know," Clarke said, "last year I met former AFL footballer Gilbert McAdam, who is a regional development officer based in Wyndham, and he was telling me that in the outback the hand-eye co-ordination of the Aboriginal kids is amazing.

"They have a game whereby they throw rocks at each other and have a stick, and they either get hit in the head by the rock or they belt it for their make-believe six."

Much like Don Bradman with the stump and the golf ball against the rain-water tank, perhaps.

Clarke spoke of CA's vision to have 750,000 registered players by 2015 – it currently has 568,000 – and women's cricket, which has enjoyed an 11.5 per cent increase every season for the past five years, continuing its great development.

And he wants governments throughout Australia to wake up and bring back more physical education in schools.

"When we went to primary school we did, on average, eight hours a week physical education, but now it is down to 20 minutes," Clarke bemoaned.

"You can talk all you like about getting young people fit, but it's at school where you have to get it right. You cannot rely on sport to back it. It's a big burden on clubs and sporting bodies to carry all of that. Governments have to get sport back into schools and make it an integral part of the program."

Needless to say, Clarke says he has a lot of work ahead of him over the next three years. He doesn't suggest he has all the answers, and the only sure thing he knows is that the kid he bowled in his very first game of cricket as a 10-year-old could not have been a very good player and hadn't played Test cricket for Australia.