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2020-21 AUSTRALIAN CRICKETTO BE THE LEADING SPORTFOR WOMEN AND GIRLS
WELCOMETO THE FOURTH AUSTRALIAN CRICKETPRESS FOR PROGRESS REPORT.First released in 2018, the Press for Progress report reflects Australian Cricket’scommitment to being openly accountable in our aspiration of becoming theLeading Sport for Women and Girls.The 2020-21 season was undoubtedly one of our most challenging seasons yet.The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic caused much disruption around the world,with sporting organisations and business sectors more broadly, forced to reimagine theway they work and respond to continued uncertainty.With this being said, we maintained our focus on growing the game and were able tosuccessfully host New Zealand in September 2020, the first cricket team to tour Australiasince the start of the pandemic, in a home series. The Australian Women’s Team alsotravelled to New Zealand in 2021, where they inspired the country by breaking the record forconsecutive ODI wins.For the second cricket season in a row, the team was named Australia’s favourite team,scoring the highest Benchmark Emotional Connection Score of any national team.We also delivered another standalone Women’s Big Bash League in full, with all 59 matchesbeing played in Sydney where our players, match officials and staff spent up to seven weeksin a hub environment in addition to quarantine periods.From a participation perspective, whilst the pandemic halted some opportunities to play ourwonderful game, we pleasingly saw a significant (27.4%) increase in girls participating inWoolworths Cricket Blast off the back of the momentum from the T20 World Cup and WBBL.We certainly could not have done this without the support of our dedicated volunteers,players and coaches, who have driven the change over a number of years and went aboveand beyond to deliver the season in a COVID-safe environment.Reporting and transparency, as well as owning our challenges, is critical in our progressiontowards a gender equal future. We will need to build strategies and develop comprehensiveaction plans to minimise the adverse effects of the pandemic on gender equality.Heading into the final year of the Australian Cricket strategy, we know we have work to do inreaching our goal and we will continue to strive for gender equality across Australian Cricket.We have seen through the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Final in March 2020, what is possiblewhen we focus and work together. Now more than ever, it is important for us to keeppushing for equality in cricket and continue to accelerate the momentum we establishedbefore the pandemic.Will you join us?Dominic BakerNick CumminsMichelle EnrightLee GermonNick HockleyCEO, Cricket TasmaniaCEO, Cricket VictoriaCEO, ICC T20World Cup 2022CEO, Cricket NSWCEO, CricketAustraliaChristina MatthewsJoel MorrisonJodie NewtonTerry SvensonOlivia ThorntonCEO, WA CricketCEO, NorthernTerritory CricketActing CEO, SouthAustralian CricketAssociationCEO, QueenslandCricketCEO, Cricket ACT
LEADERSHIPAchieve gender equity across Australian Cricket, while developingand accelerating opportunities for women in our game.GROW PARTICIPATION SUSTAINABLYSustainably grow women’s and girls’ participation, and make surecricket clubs are welcoming and enjoyable places to be.ELITE TALENT PATHWAYOffer a viable professional career for female talented athletes,supported by an expansive and structured pathway.GROW WOMEN’S ELITE CRICKETNow more than ever, it is vital for Australian Cricketto prioritise the progression of workforce genderdiversity to achieve our aspiration of becoming theLeading Sport for Women and Girls.From an Australian Cricket governance perspective,whist there were changes in Directors acrossthe country, gender diversity at the Director levelremained consistent at 32%.Three key appointments across the year includedOlivia Thornton as Cricket ACT’s Chief ExecutiveOfficer, Michelle Enright as the ICC Men’s T20 WorldCup Australia 2022 Local Organising Committee ChiefExecutive Officer and Jodie Newton as SACA’s ActingChief Executive Officer. There are now four women inthe role of CEO across Australian Cricket with Olivia,Michelle and Jodie joining Christina Matthews.However, there was a decline in women inexecutive management, showcasing the need tocontinually provide leadership opportunities forwomen across Australian Cricket.The 2020-21 season also saw the appointment of KateHarkness as General Manager of the Adelaide Strikers.An additional highlight from the season includedthe formation of the Recognition of Women inCricket Working Group who have been tasked withaddressing the imbalance of public recognitionof women in cricket, both on and off the field.This includes identifying and advocating foropportunities to recognise the achievementsof women in cricket through initiatives suchas sculptures, artworks and the naming ofinfrastructure including stands and walks of honour.We also saw success from the pilot programto support female elite players transitioning tocoaching with Cricket ACT’s Erin Osborne securingfull-time employment within their men’s pathwayprogram. Representative courses and workshopswere also held to progress the development ofwomen as coaches.Deepen cricket’s fan base by entertaining women and girls throughinternational cricket and the Big Bash.Therefore, the acceleration of gender diversityin the workforce continues to be a focus areafor improvement, particularly for executivemanagement and developing our future leaders.ON THE RADAR: Dedicated female leadership programs toassist in the progression and development ofour future leaders. The development of the new Australian Cricketstrategic plan will continue to accelerategender equity with workforce diversity as oneof the key focus areas.REPRESENTATION OF WOMENGrow the WBBL and women’s international cricket, while remainingnumber one in all formats.WOMEN AND GIRLS AS FANSOther Management and Total Staff also sawdeclines due to restructures and recruitmentchallenges having an impact on overall genderdiversity 2MINIMUM 40% REPRESENTATION OF MEN AND WOMEN ACROSSEVERY LEVEL OF THE AUSTRALIAN CRICKET WORKFORCELEADERSHIPCRICKET ASPIRES TO BECOME AUSTRALIA’SLEADING SPORT FOR WOMEN AND GIRLSSimilar to many organisations across the country, the COVID-19pandemic caused disruption amongst Australian Cricket’s workforce.
A record breaking consecutive one-day wins from the AustralianWomen’s Team continued to inspire and pave the way for the nextgeneration of elite cricketers.The 2020-21 summer saw more girls than everplaying Woolworths Cricket Blast (WWCB) withgirls accounting for more than one in five children inour entry level program. It was pleasing to see ourtremendous volunteers deliver this growth in whatwas a challenging year for our community clubs.Although the 2020-21 season proved to be achallenging year for Australian Cricket’s pathwayprograms, Australian Cricket remains committedto offering talented athletes a viable professionalcareer, supported by an expansive and structuredpathway to bridge playing at a community levelwith playing for your country.With a focus on ensuring the international anddomestic seasons were played, Australia’s seriesagainst New Zealand, the Women’s Big Bash Leagueand the Women’s National Cricket League wereable to proceed as planned as COVID safe eventsthanks to the efforts from our players, coaches,support staff and employees.As part of becoming the Leading Sport for Womenand Girls, our target is to offer more playingopportunities for female talented athletes than inany other sport.ON THE RADAR:The roll out of the first year of The Next Innings:Accelerating Female Participation strategy alsooccurred this season with the ongoing and valuedsupport from Commonwealth Bank and the legacyof the ICC T20 Women’s World Cup helping usbuild a pathway and create better experiences forwomen and girls.As part of our new strategy, we have reviewed ourKPIs and have made some amendments, whichincludes moving away from total participation(which included girls taking part in in-schoolafter hour programs) to registered participation.Taking cricket to girls in schools is important to us,however we believe it is important for us to reporton girls choosing to play cricket. For this reason,our KPIs below now reflect our new strategy andinclude overall registered participation, girls inWWCB, and junior girls’ club teams.With the pandemic forcing many community sportsinto a ‘stop/start’ season, the community cricketseason was particularly impacted in Victoria dueto lockdown.Female registered participation decreased with theestimated COVID impact of 25,000. The cancellationof tournaments and leagues due to the pandemicwere felt most acutely in indoor cricket andorganised school competitions.Although COVID meant we saw slight declines injunior girls teams at clubs and the percentage ofwomen and girls registered to play, girls registeringfor junior cricket and Blast grew by 17.5%.The upcoming season will be important inaccelerating the momentum in girls registeringand getting overall participation numbers backon track, however, the possibility of COVID againimpacting the season at a community level needsto be taken into consideration.This summer’s series against India followed by TheAshes, the ICC Women’s World Cup in New Zealandand cricket’s appearance at the CommonwealthGames in Birmingham provide us with multipleplatforms to build upon our aspirations of ensuringAustralians consider cricket to be the sport ofchoice for girls.ON THE RADAR: Next phase of the Next Innings strategy whichincludes the learnings from the customerexperience research. Daughters and Dads Cricket program roll out. Social Women’s program rolled out nationally,providing more playing opportunities.In this respect, progress for the Elite TalentPathway is judged by the ongoing expansion andcontinuous improvement, against both our ownhigh standards and those set by our domestic andinternational peers.Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic had asignificant impact on competitions, resulting inthe postponement of the Women’s U19 World Cup,the bi-lateral Australia A and India A Series andthe underage National Championships. However,state-based underage pathway programs wereconducted with a focus on reaffirming the NationalChampionships in the upcoming season.2017-182018-19JUNIOR GIRLS’TEAMS AT CLUBSFEMALE REGISTEREDPLAYERSPERCENTAGEOF FEMALEREGISTERED PLAYERSGIRLS IN 22MORE PLAYINGOPPORTUNITIESthan domestic andinternational peersFEMALENational PerformanceSquad introducedIntroduction ofICC Women’s U19WORLD CUPPOSTPONEMENTof U19 World Cup until Jan 2023as well as 2021 underage NationalChampionships due to COVID Reaffirming pathway programs that wereimpacted by COVID including an AustraliaA series against England A, the Under-19National Championships (scheduled to resumethis season) and the Under-16 NationalChampionships which will resume in the2022-23 season. The resumption of the National PerformanceSquad program after a COVID impacted season. A two Test summer. For the first time on theAustralian summer calendar, the AustralianWomen’s Team will partake in two Tests –one against India and one against England –highlighting more playing opportunities at anelite level.PAY EQUITYmodel implemented, and parityin domestic prize moneyREINTRODUCTIONHIGHEST PAIDnational women’s team(average 180K)NEW TEAMSof U19 international toursand more matches added tonational underage championshipsFirstWomen’s T20 Cricket added to the2022 Commonwealth Games andCOMBINEDAustralia and Australia A TourDELIVEREDthe domestic season throughthe WBBL and WNCLAUSTRALIA QUALIFIESIN A COVID WORLDwe hosted the New Zealand team andsuccessfully toured New ZealandMORE PLAYING OPPORTUNITIES THAN IN ANY OTHER SPORTELITE TALENT PATHWAYGROW PARTICIPATION SUSTAINABLYAustralian Cricket continues to work towards becoming a trulygender equal sport by providing more opportunities for women andgirls to play the game.
As part of Australian Cricket’s aspiration to become the LeadingSport for Women and Girls, providing opportunities for womenand girls to enjoy the game as fans in a welcoming and inclusiveenvironment, is just as pivotal as providing playing opportunities.Whilst the 2020-21 season provided many challengesto sporting codes across the world, AustralianCricket remained focused on delivering a homeseries against New Zealand as well as a full Women’sBig Bash League season.Due to the impact of COVID, the percentage ofwomen and girls who attended matches in 2020-21dropped, which was consistent with our researchthat indicated women were less likely to returnto any type of live events post-COVID comparedto men.The all-conquering Australian Women’s Teamcontinued their extraordinary momentum fromthe ICC T20 World Cup, with a series win over NewZealand, that saw an average linear televisionaudience of 235,563 for the T20Is.The figure ensured the matches against the WhiteFerns represented the most-watched Septemberseries in four years, despite competing with thelate-finishing winter sporting codes.For the second consecutive cricket season, TrueNorth Research revealed the Australian Women’sTeam was again Australia’s favourite team, scoringthe highest Benchmark Emotional Connection Scoreof any national team.Although there were crowd restrictions throughoutthe season, both international and WBBL matchessuccessfully delivered COVID-safe events for fans,with the latter all being played in Sydney.For the second year in a row, a standalone WBBLseason saw the league confirm its standing as thefourth most-watched domestic league in Australia(behind only the BBL, AFL and NRL).The 202,139 simulcast average audience on Sevenand Foxtel was the sixth consecutive year of morethan 200,000 people watching WBBL matches, whilethe cumulative WBBL audience reached 4.6 million.The WBBL 06 Finals series saw a 26.5% increase incumulative TV audience YoY off the back of moving toprimetime finals with the Final audience of 462,940being the second-highest rating WBBL game ever.ON THE RADAR: As part of their dominance, the team also kept their#1 world ranking status across both ODIs and T20Is.From a commercial perspective, this season wewelcomed Cadbury, who joined long-time partnerCommonwealth Bank, in supporting the AustralianWomen’s Team. Increased WBBL television coverage with 47matches to be broadcast in WBBL 07. Thisrepresents an almost five-fold increase from10 broadcast matches in WBBL 01.While women and girls represented 54% ofattendees at women’s internationals (up from45% from 2019-20) and 56% of attendees at WBBLmatches (up from 52% from 2019-20), a decreasewas recorded at the more crowded men’s matches.Men’s internationals and the KFC Big Bash Leagueplay a pivotal role in advocating for genderdiversity across fans. There was a decrease in therepresentation of women at men’s matches withBBL at 42% (down from 44% in 2019-20), Men’sTest at 21% (down from 28% in 2019-20) and Men’sT20I and ODI at 22% (down from 30% in 2019-20).This highlights the importance of gender diversityadvocacy for the season ahead.A home series against India and England aheadof the rescheduled ICC Women’s World Cup inNew Zealand in 2022.The 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birminghamwith Australia’s qualification confirmed.This also reaffirms the importance ofunderstanding and differentiating the interestsof women and girls as sports fans and fansinterested in women’s sport. While these twogroups can overlap, it’s important for AustralianCricket to understand how COVID has impacted thedecision-making of both of these groups, so furtherresearch needs to be conducted.Gender diversity in viewership remained consistent.The BBL (39.8%) and men’s Test matches (37.7%)drew the most diverse audiences while theWomen’s ODI and T20I followed with 36.3% and theWBBL on 35.8%.In 2021 cricket maintained the fourth highestnumber of passionate fans amongst women andgirls across Australian sports with 12.7% of womenproclaiming to be avid fans across both the 19-20and 20-21 seasons.ON THE RADAR: New visual identity and campaign relatedimagery with a family-friendly lens for WBBL. Continue to grow influencer strategy thatspeaks to women that aren’t super fans. Continue showcasing gender inclusivitywithin cricket.REPRESENTATION OF WOMENWBBL STANDALONEATTENDANCEWBBL AVERAGE VIEWERSHIPWORLD .5K2020-2110.9K COVID-safe attendeesTARGET2022is the leadingwomen’ssports leaguein the worldTOTAL ATTENDEESAVERAGE VIEWERSHIPNUMBER OF FEMALEPASSIONATE FANS2017-18 39%#4202K#12020-2135%35-39%#4TARGET2022AT LEAST 40%WOMEN AND GIRLSAT LEAST 40%WOMEN AND GIRLSis the largestwomen’s sportsevent ever heldin Australiain all formatsPlease note the 2020-21 WBBL average viewership is simulcast matches only to ensure consistency with previous seasons.Please note in previous years we have also reported on domestic digital unique audience. This metrichas been removed from this edition due to data being unavailable for the 2020-21 season.WOMEN AND GIRLS AS FANSGROW WOMEN’S ELITE CRICKETAustralian Cricket’s focus on growing women’s elite cricketcombines on-field success with off-field growth which includesbuilding upon the fan base while showcasing an exciting andvisible pathway.
management other management total employees minimum 40% representation of men and women across every level of the australian cricket workforce leadership grow participation sustainably elite .
