Cricket Participation Trend and Sport Overview

This assignment examines the participation trends in cricket over time, focusing specifically on Australia. It delves into the sport's significant popularity within the country, surpassing other sporting activities in viewership and engagement. The document provides an overview of cricket as a sport in Australia, highlighting its cultural significance and influence.

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Executive Summary:
The report is a discussion on the popular sport of Australia. The sport under discussion is
Cricket. There report gives an overview of the sport along with a discussion on how it entails its
participants in terms of opportunity cost, money and health benefits. The report also puts forward
the growth of Cricket in Australia and the participation trend in the past. The report also
discusses about the future trends of cricket in Australia. There are also recommendations
provided for future funding of the sport in Australia.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
1. Overview of the Cricket in Australia...........................................................................................3
2. Growth of the Cricket in Australia and the Participation Trend for Cricket in the Past..............4
3. Prediction of the Future Trends of Cricket..................................................................................7
4. Recommendation for Future Funding of Cricket.........................................................................7
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................7
References:......................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction:
The report gives an overview of one of the most popular sport of Australia that is cricket.
A discussion gives an overview of the sport along with an analysis how it helps the participants
in terms of time, health benefits, money and opportunity cost. There is also a part in the report
that discusses about the growth of Cricket in Australia and worldwide along with mention of the
participation trend for the sport in the past. The report also predicts about the future trends of
cricket along with recommendations for its future funding. Sport is an essential part of the
culture in Australia that dates back to the colonial period. Cricket is a sport that has helped in
shaping the national as well international identity of the country.
1. Overview of the Cricket in Australia
Cricket refers to a popular sport in Australia not only at the international level but also at
the local and domestic level. However, the primary administrative body for the sport both at the
amateur and professional level is Cricket Australia (Sissons& Stoddart, 2014). Australia has a
record of around 1,311,184 people who played cricket in the year 2015 -16. This represents an
increase of 8.5 percent compared to the previous year thereby making it the highest participation
sport in the country. The participation rate of women in the sport was also at a record high in the
year 2015-16 (Appadurai, 2015).
Cricket is however a sport that is played in Australia for more than 210 years. The first
cricket match took place in Sydney in the year 1803 in the month of December. As far as,
international cricket is concerned the Australian national team represents the most successful
team. Australia is also one of the nations aided in forming the International Cricket Council(ICC)

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(Hulin et al., 2013). This country plays test series against visiting team, one-day tournament
between other teams on the home ground and undertakes overseas tours for the remaining year.
Games in cricket played over number of days or hours thereby making it a sport that have
the longest time of playing. First class matches for the sport played over a period of three to five
days with six hours of dedicated cricket per day (Appadurai, 2015). However, one-day cricket
matches lasted for a minimum of six hours. There are special rules for intervals in the game that
included tea, drinks and lunch.
Cricket Australia has recorded revenue of around $300 million. The leading players of
Australia earn around $1million per year. Cricket is a sport that entails various health benefits to
the participants through increase in endurance and stamina and balance and flexibility. The sport
also improves coordination and enhances cardio vascular activities (Orchard et al., 2015).
Through the sport, the participants are able to improve motor and social skills along with
improved physical fitness. Cricket is a sport that helps in muscle toning and team building.
2. Growth of the Cricket in Australia and the Participation Trend for Cricket in the Past
The growth of Cricket in Australia has been commendable and considered as the leading
participation sport in the year 2015-16 (Hickey et al., 2016). The national cricket censuses have
also revealed the participation of female players that accounts for almost one quarter of all the
players.The participation rate for Cricket in the year 2016-17 recorded was close to around 1.4
million players. The evidence of these put forward by the latest census on National Cricket by
Cricket Australia. However, out of 1.4 million participants around 27 percent represented
females. The rate of female participation also increased compared to previous year with nearly

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400,000 players compared to only 80,000 players in the previous year (Biscomb & Griggs,
2013).
According to the Census, there was an increase in the multicultural participation close to
28 percent. Indigenous participation and disability participation for the sport also that accounted
for about 40 percent and 70 percent respectively (Eime et al., 2015). The communities and club
participation also increased to 9.5 percent that was close to figures around 454,657. Amongst
them juniors, aged between the age group of 5 to 12 years made up around 59.4 percent of the
participants in the year 2015-16 (Sissons & Stoddart, 2014).
The participation figures for Cricket outstripped by the attendance rate of the audience.
The year 2016-17 set a newer record of 1.8 million Australians attending the elite cricket(Khoo,
Schulenkorf& Adair, 2014). Figures showed 1,863,846 people attending the international cricket
backed by stronger television rating. The indoor and school participation also increased by 9.9
percent and 7.5 percent respectively.

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Figure: Participation Trend for the Year 2016-17
Source: (Hickey et al., 2016)
The past participation trend in the sport has also been immense. Cricket was in the heart
of Australia from time immemorial. The initial recorded match of the sport occurred in Sydney
in the year 1803. The first tour to Australia was by an English cricket team in the year 1861-62.
In the year, 1868, a team of Aboriginal cricketers was the first Australian cricket team who
toured England (Hajkowicz et al., 2013). Overall, the team participated in 47 matches of which

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they won 14 matches, had a draw in 19 matches and lost around 14 matches. The standards of
Australian cricket raised during its representative tour that it took to England in the year 1878.
Although war brought a halt to the test cricket in Australia however the end of war in Europe in
the year 1945 started by playing a victory test in England. The year 1970 saw administrators and
players coming to conflict.
3. Prediction of the Future Trends of Cricket
There is a prediction for the development of a comprehensive five-year strategy put
forward by the authoritative board, Cricket Australia, following the conference on Australian
Cricket in Melbourne (Ahmad et al., 2016). The comprehensive strategy, there will be a greater
emphasis on a clear structure of international cricket that will enhance the importance of Test
Cricket. The strategy will also have a greater emphasis on Big Bash League for the female as
well as male players particularly for complementing the international cricket. The trends put
forward by the strategy will also include:
1. Ensuring a True Sport for Girls and Women:
The strategy will help in amplifying the focus on the importance and role of elite female
cricketers thereby ensuring that cricket is a sport for everyone. The approach will be available
from the grass root thereby making sure that every club in Australia related to the sport develops
a supportive and welcoming environment for girls and women.
2. Review of Investment for GrassRootCricket:
The strategy will also put forward a review on the investment at the grass root level
especially for the girls and the boys belonging to the clubs and schools along with a delivery
model for the sport(Biscomb& Griggs, 2013). Commitment for modified versions of investment

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made for the year 2017-18. There were also plans for pursuing the development of the formats of
social cricket that aligned with the increasing casual participation trends available across sporting
sector in the continent.
3. Focusing on ways for Enhancing Fan Engagement:
The comprehensive strategy will also help in focusing on elite cricket, as there will be
more focus in exploring the ways for increasing the fan engagement with the international
cricket. Cricket Australia has easily endorsed the progress made by the international cricket in
pursuing changes to the context and the structure that helps in underpinning the competition
between the countries(Sturm, 2015). This will enable including a clear structure and larger
context for the international cricket that will help in giving more to the fans. In addition to
attaining an international stage, it will also help Australian cricket to refine and develop a more
robust growth strategy for the Big Bash League for women and men.
4. Ensuring Success of ICC Cricket World Cup:
The strategy also meant for ensuring that Australian Cricket association agreed for
working towards the success of ICC World Twenty20 in the year 2020 that would also surpass
the events of 2015 in terms of viewership, attendees and influence on the growth of
game(Maxwell et al., 2013).
4. Recommendation for Future Funding of Cricket
The future funding of the cricket can come through partnership of Cricket Australia with
territory and state associations. The partnership can invest around $1.5 million into various
cricketing related projects through the National Community Facility Funding Scheme. The
funding not only increase participation in community cricket but at the same time improve the

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experience of the volunteers, officials and participants. Increased funding also helps in providing
increased access to the sport.
Conclusion:
The report ends by throwing a light on the future funding of Cricket. There is also
discussion on the future trends of cricket. The report further throws a light on the growth of
Cricket in Australia and the participation trend of the past. There is also an overview on the
cricket as a sport in Australia. In Australia cricket considered as a sport with higher participation
rate. The popularity of cricket is so high that there is hardly any chance of overshadowing by
other sports.

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References:
Ahmad, H., Daud, A., Wang, L., Hong, H., Dawood, H., & Yang, Y. (2017). Prediction of rising
stars in the game of cricket. IEEE Access, 5, 4104-4124.
Appadurai, A. (2015). Playing with modernity: the decolonization of Indian cricket. Altre
Modernità, (14), 1-24.
Biscomb, K., & Griggs, G. (2013). ‘A splendid effort!’Print media reporting of England’s
women’s performance in the 2009 Cricket World Cup. International Review for the
Sociology of Sport, 48(1), 99-111.
Eime, R., Harvey, J., Charity, M., Casey, M., Westerbeek, H., & Payne, W. (2015). Four-year
trends in sport participation and retention: The gender differences. Journal of Science and
Medicine in Sport, 19, e33-e34.
Hajkowicz, S. A., Cook, H., Wilhelmseder, L., & Boughen, N. (2013). The Future of Australian
Sport: Megatrends shaping the sports sector over coming decades. A Consultancy Report
for the Australian Sports Commission.
Hickey, C., Harrison, L., Ollis, D., & Mooney, A. (2016). The professionalisation of Australian
women's cricket: new times and new opportunities.
Hulin, B. T., Gabbett, T. J., Blanch, P., Chapman, P., Bailey, D., & Orchard, J. W. (2013).
Spikes in acute workload are associated with increased injury risk in elite cricket fast
bowlers. Br J Sports Med, bjsports-2013.

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Khoo, C., Schulenkorf, N., & Adair, D. (2014). The benefits and limitations of using cricket as a
sport for development tool in Samoa. Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary
Journal, 6(1), 76-102.
Maxwell, H., Foley, C., Taylor, T., & Burton, C. (2013). Social inclusion in community sport: A
case study of Muslim women in Australia. Journal of Sport Management, 27(6), 467-481.
Orchard, J. W., Blanch, P., Paoloni, J., Kountouris, A., Sims, K., Orchard, J. J., & Brukner, P.
(2015). Cricket fast bowling workload patterns as risk factors for tendon, muscle, bone
and joint injuries. Br J Sports Med, 49(16), 1064-1068.
Sissons, R., & Stoddart, B. (2014). Cricket and Empire (RLE Sports Studies): The 1932-33
Bodyline Tour of Australia (Vol. 10). Routledge.
Sturm, D. (2015). Smash and Bash Cricket? Affective Technological Innovations in the Big
Bash. Media International Australia, 155(1), 80-88.