A spectacularly successful Twenty20 World Cup, which contained a poor national team, has left leading cricket administrators wondering how to engage the many thousands of fans who don’t barrack for Australia.
The tournament is approaching 750,000 purchased tickets with heavily sold semi-finals that do not contain Australia after they failed to emerge from the group stage.
India and Pakistan fans have turned up to the World Cup in vast numbers.Credit:Getty Images
Pakistan played New Zealand at the SCG on Wednesday night in front of their second full house, while India are close to their fifth sellout in six games for their semi-final against England at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday night.
“The main message is you want everyone to feel really welcome and part of Australian cricket,” Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley told the Herald and The Age.
“I think honestly we’ve got a long way to go, but I think that we’re seeing rapid change. It’s happening organically already.
Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley.Credit:Getty
“The question is how do we accelerate it, but also make sure that if there are any kinds of barriers that we’re helping facilitate change.”
That acceleration will be helped by a $4.4 million Federal Government grant for the T20 World Cup legacy specifically aimed at making cricket a more inclusive sport.
Hired from the 2012 London Olympics, Hockley developed significant relationships with multicultural communities working on the 2015 50-over World Cup in Australia, and was CEO of the 2020 T20 World Cup, which drew more than 86,000 to the women’s final at the MCG. The men’s tournament was postponed for two years because of COVID and Hockley was appointed Cricket Australia CEO last year.
He is encouraged by the progress at Cricket NSW, where an increasing number of male and female players of south Asian origin are coming through the state’s elite underage pathways system.
NSW pathways manager, Nick Bills, expects three players of south Asian origin to be named in the state’s male metro under-19 team and six female players in the under-19 metro and country teams to play in the national championships.
“At our metro academy for 15 and 16-year-olds, 30 to 40 per cent of players are from south Asian heritage,” Bills said. “Of the 1500 players under 16 in the Blacktown and District Cricket Association, 1400 identify as having a south Asian background.”
The NSW Sheffield Shield team has had two young cricketers of south Asian heritage, former Australian under-19 players Jason Sangha, who has captained the team, and Tanveer Sangha, no relation.
Hockley claimed that for cricket to become more inclusive, representation had to go beyond the cricket field.
“Whether it’s administrative positions, particularly coaching staff, we want to make sure that people from these communities know that there is a place for them in the sport,” Hockley said.
“We’ve done a really good job on gender diversity; we’ve actually got to do a better job on cultural diversity across clubs and associations.”
Jason Sangha celebrates his maiden Shield century for NSW in 2018.Credit:AAP
NSW also has former Sri Lankan player and coach Chandika Hathurusingha as batting coach.
Cricket NSW chairman John Knox made diversity a major issue at the state’s annual meeting in August.
“While Cricket NSW has led the growth and professionalism of the women’s game, which has led to extraordinary success both on and off the field, the administration of our game remains – and let’s all look around us now – very white and very male,” Knox said.
“It needs to start, not just at our board, but at the administration of clubs and associations across the state. Some amongst us are ahead of others – but we all have some work to do here as it is critical to grow the game.”
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