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The success of Usman Khawaja and Gurinder Sandhu has been a massive breakthrough for diversity in cricket, but it still remains far from being a sport for all Australians.
Cricket Australia, through initiatives such as the Community Rookie program in the Big Bash League and the ‘Thunder Cup’ tournament in western Sydney have been very active in trying to move cricket beyond its traditional Anglo-Saxon stronghold.
However, the reality is many of the success stories are from traditional cricket-playing backgrounds of the sub-continent or Afghanistan. The question is how much encouragement do players of Indian or Sri Lankan origin really need to play the game when it is an inherent part of their culture?
AFL has been much more successful in embracing Australians of all backgrounds where players such as Daniel Kerr, Bachar Houli, Tendai Mzungu, Nic Naitanui and Heritier Lumumba are all household names in Australia. AFL has also allowed Indigenous talents to shine such as Gavin Wanganeen and Andrew McLeod.
Cricket has had the occasional player such as Jason Gillespie, who has Aboriginal heritage, and the Portuguese-born Moises Henriques who have come from non-traditional cricket backgrounds. The question we have to ask ourselves is why are these players a rare commodity in cricket when AFL is able to make itself easily accessible to people of diverse backgrounds?
In terms of Aboriginal representation, there have been theories to AFL’s link to the traditional Indigenous game of Marn Grook. Perhaps this means that the Indigenous population may feel a personal connection to the game.
There is also, of course, the ‘success breeds success’ concept, where having plenty of role models to look up to allows the Aboriginal population to realise they have a chance to succeed in this game.
Cricket’s massive British colonial influence such as wearing white-coloured clothing and taking tea breaks understandably does not draw as many Aboriginal participants. This leads to a lack of role models for Aboriginal cricketers to look up to and they are not driven to play the game.
If the treatment of Queenslander Eddie Gilbert had been better we might be seeing a different story about Aboriginal cricketers. Australian Under-19 leg-spinner Jonte Pattinson is of Aboriginal descent, so hopefully he makes the breakthrough and crafts out a successful cricketing career.
Cricket Australia is to be commended on the hard work they are putting in through tournaments such as the Imparja Cup, which provides a chance for the growth of cricket in Indigenous circles
In considering players coming from non-traditional cricket backgrounds, three barriers stand out: the cost of cricket equipment, the complexities of the rules and the perception that cricket is boring and time-consuming. AFL, from an outsider’s perspective, is a much easier game to pick up, very action-packed and not very expensive at all.
There are certain elements of cricket which should make it more attractive, such as it being a non-contact sport and catering for all sizes. Twenty20 cricket has also done a reasonable job in drawing new crowds to the game.
I know Cricket New South Wales has an initiative where state-contracted players visit primary schools to promote cricket, so the authorities are trying hard to tackle this problem. This issue is not restricted to Australia alone, though.
Cricket in England struggles to attract migrants from backgrounds other than Afro-Carribean or Asian. New Zealand also lacks a significant representation in their national team from their Maori or Pacific Islander population compared to their all-conquering rugby teams. The reasons mentioned such as the cost and time to play cricket probably explain these trends as well.
Sometimes I wonder how much Cricket Australia can help to try mirror the success of AFL, because while they have been very proactive, you can’t suddenly make cricket more action-packed, have simpler rules or make equipment less expensive.
It is not all doom and gloom, however. Australian Under-19 batsman Jordan Gauci is a name to watch out for, and he is of Maltese and Nicaraguan descent. Cricket in Australia needs more players like him as it represents the brilliant and diverse country that Australia is. All cricket fans fondly remember characters like Simon Katich and Michael Kasprowicz and the game would be a lot poorer without their contribution.
I feel that Cricket Australia does need to differentiate when counting migrant participants and separate into backgrounds of non-traditional cricket-playing backgrounds and traditional cricket-playing backgrounds. This would allow a clearer image of the problem to be conceptualised.
It must be said that the rise of Khawaja is the first step in a new direction for Australian cricket. Let’s hope that progress is made from here on and that one day cricket can rival AFL in being a sport for all Australians.
There is one factor which makes the great game better than AFL and that is how there is sustained interest in every state of Australia. It is the unifying sport in Australia, unlike AFL or rugby league which has the ‘Barassi Line’ divide.
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