Cricket Australia is worried a pandemic-induced dive in the number of first-time cricketers could lead to a "missing generation" of kids taking up the sport around the nation.
Its annual cricket census for 2021-22 has revealed a 10 per cent drop in participants in the organisation's Blast program, largely caused by closures to centres in major cities as a result of COVID-19 lockdowns.
"It's absolutely something that is a worry for us," James Allsop, who heads up the community arm of Cricket Australia, said.
"It's something we are mobilising around as part of the new strategy that we're about to launch in the next couple of years."
A year of new, young cricketers has been lost, according to Allsop, and cricketing authorities are desperate to ensure it does not happen again for fear of losing a generation of budding batters, bowlers and fielders.
"We've lost one year. I'm really confident we're not going to lose two years," Allsop said.
"But we might have lost some kids as six-year-olds but we can get them back as a seven-year-old."
Allsop pointed to Cricket Australia data which underscores the importance of attracting first-time cricketers at a young age.
Ninety per cent of participants play for the first time before the age of 12, according to the data, and, last year, 70 per cent started before the age of nine.
"Cricket is probably unique from other sports in that you do have to come in at an early age to develop those skills," he said.
First-timers aside, the cricket census paints a positive picture, in spite of more than two years of disruptions to community sport.
Club cricket has grown. Junior club registrations rose by 5 per cent on the year prior, and six per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Senior club registrations have risen, too, by 5 per cent.
The number of girls registered for junior club cricket lifted too on pre-COVID levels.
A big reason the sport has been able to grow despite the pandemic is timing. Winter sports like AFL and NRL were hit harder by state-based lockdowns.
"There's no doubt we've been really fortunate with seasons and obviously the lockdowns in winter haven't affected us as much from a club participation point of view," Allsop said.
"But nonetheless, our big markets were still in lockdown in October, November."
Registered participation overall is still down 16 per cent since before the pandemic, something attributed mostly to the impacts on indoor cricket and school competition.
Tasmania bucks the blast trend
While the Blast program has suffered in bigger metropolitan areas such as Melbourne and Sydney, it has actually grown in Tasmania, according to Cricket Australia.
The census showed Blast in Tasmania grew 40 per cent on pre-COVID levels.
The key, Allsop explained, was that the program travelled to different communities, targeting a variety of multicultural and socio-economic backgrounds.
Allsop said Cricket Australia's strategy over the next five years would see it look to become more flexible, "opening up more opportunities to play cricket Blast".
"So rather than a centre only opening up at a club on a Saturday morning, we'll work with them to open up on a Friday and Monday night and a Saturday," he said.
"Last year, we've had a hiccup but I'm really confident we'll turn it around in the next 12 months and beyond."
