Explained: Why Indian migrants could be key for sustaining future of cricket in Australia – Firstpost

Cricket remains a popular sport in Australia, but for the sport to sustain its future in the country, Indian or South Asian heritage could be the key, according to Paul Kennedy, a sports presenter at Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). The former Australian rules footballer elaborated how South Asian heritage was important to boost the number of people taking up cricket in Australia.
“If you look at all sports, which I do, participation levels is a big thing. You need people playing a game if you want to keep operating as a sport, particularly big sport like cricket. If you look at migration to Australia, India is a huge part of Australia life now,” Paul said on the Grade Cricketer vlog.
“And what do they do? They play cricket. The stats are that at the U12 level it’s up near 40% of the kids are from South Asian heritage. We went to Truganina which is west of Melbourne. In that area along eight years ago, they had 160 teams., now they have 420 teams. And some sports haven’t got the diversity to have that future safeguard of just full participation in growing a game. So it’s like a gift for cricket,” he added.
In November, Paul had explained the reason why the current boom in people taking up cricket was unlike any other trend in Australian sport. “Five years ago, 10 per cent of cricket players registered at all levels in Australia had South Asian heritage; Cricket Australia Chief of Cricket James Allsop says that figure is 20 per cent and rising,” he had written on abc.net.au.
Kennedy also noted a significant development in registration for Cricket Blast, an introductory program for kids below 10 following a backyard cricket style. “Registrations for ‘Cricket Blast’, a backyard cricket-style introductory program for kids under 10, saw children of parents from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan go up by 26 per cent for boys and 29 per cent for girls over the past year. Representative programs run by local, state, and national organisations have noted 17 per cent of their players are now of South Asian heritage. In the Under 12 age group that number is an amazing 40 per cent in boys and 25 per cent in girls,” he noted.
This revolution, however, has not yet reached the professional level of cricket. In professional level, the contracted state players hailing from South Asian families are less than five per cent of 166 elite men and 122 women.
Among players at the highest level, Usman Khawaja and Alana King are the only players with national contracts. Cricket Australia has also prepared a multicultural plan with the aim of doubling number of players from South Asia in state level by 2027.
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