Projects
National Community Cricket Infrastructure Strategy

Cricket Australia is a key player in funding and advocating for cricket infrastructure investment nationwide. Their goal is for cricket to be a sport embraced by people of all ages, genders, abilities, and cultural backgrounds, across the country.

There are over 6,000 existing club cricket fields across Australia, and optimising performance against Cricket Australia’s goal is an inherently complex task that raises questions like: Which assets should be upgraded? What type of upgrades will generate optimum value for money? Who are the upgrades serving? Where will the delivery of new assets generate the greatest community use and uplift in cricket participation?

Answering these questions requires considering a range of complex factors, including:

1. Participation is increasing, recovering back to and beyond pre-COVID levels
2. There are significant opportunities to grow female participation
3. Evolving game formats are driving increased participation for some cohorts
4. Funding constraints are a key challenge
5. There is limited space for new assets in many inner urban areas that are experiencing high levels of population growth
6. Impacts from extreme weather events are anticipated to increase
7. Other sport codes are competing to attract new participants and for the same infrastructure investment
8. Some cricket infrastructure is ageing and not meeting Cricket Australia Community Cricket Facility Guidelines
9. There are opportunities to partner with schools to support growth in established and emerging formats
10. There is a challenge associated with deciding how best to increase the capacity of high-demand facilities and locations

Given this complexity, we were engaged by Cricket Australia to develop a systems approach that provides an evidence base for Cricket Australia’s funding and advocacy work relating to infrastructure investment. Our approach spatially aligned current and projected future cricket registrations with current infrastructure assets to identify infrastructure provision gaps. The approach drew on:

• Facilities data compiled by Cricket Australia, with data on pitch surface type and quality, field condition, pavilion facilities, including whether change rooms were gender inclusive, drainage and irrigation, lighting provision, and other features.

• Population growth projections, modelled by SGS based on numerous data sources.

• Participation data provided by Cricket Australia.

• Climate information, primarily drawn from the Bureau of Meteorology.

These data points were compiled for each local government area (LGA) and were filtered through a multi-criteria analysis framework to identify LGAs where investment is most warranted.

The strategy also provided a framework to direct asset investment that aligns with Cricket Australia’s overarching vision and objectives. A summary of this framework is provided below.

Our systems-based approach to identifying infrastructure shortfalls, together with the investment framework, will help Cricket Australia focus its funding and advocacy efforts more effectively. This will support infrastructure investment that provides value for money and grows cricket’s profile as a national sport that more people across Australia embrace.