From smaller homes to screen time, backyard cricket is facing challenges in modern Australia

We are well and truly in cricket season.

The Australian men’s cricket team is taking centre stage against India in the Border Gavaskar Trophy series while the Big Bash League is underway, as is the Sheffield Shield.

It is a packed summer schedule, with the Australian women’s cricket team competing in an Ashes series against England that will culminate in a historic Test at the MCG on January 30: the first women’s Test played at the venue since 1948–49.

That match will also be the 90th anniversary of the first ever women’s Ashes series, when England toured Australia in the summer of 1934–35.

It’s an exciting schedule for fans and one Cricket Australia will be looking to capitalise on.

But is all this cricket driving participation?

The changing face of cricket participation

Like most sports, cricket faces a challenge to retain junior players in an oversaturated sports market. It is also competing with other entertainment offerings, increased screen time, financial pressures, and parent and guardian unavailability.

Read more: No cash, no play? Have cost-of-living pressures impacted sports participation in Australia?

Ahead of the 2024–25 summer, Cricket Australia released its annual report, which included 2023–24 participation numbers.

On the whole, things are looking somewhat positive, with growth in junior cricket (ages 5-12) increasing 5%.

For women and girls, the numbers are even more encouraging, with Cricket Australia reporting 18% growth for the 2023–24 season, attributed to a 44% rise in school competitions, 6% growth in social competitions and a record-breaking year of youth girls’ participation (ages 5–12).

But Cricket Australia highlighted challenges in that next phase – the teenage years, with the governing body reporting an overall 5% drop in teenage participation.

The death of backyard cricket?

There has been reflection recently about the decline of junior participation in some demographics and a changing cricketing landscape.

A query that often arises in these conversations is whether the sport’s traditional breeding ground, backyard cricket, is under threat.

What is interesting is the nostalgia many cricket fans hold for the days of the iconic pastime and how it is central to a person’s, and maybe even our national, identity.

Backyard cricket has long been a staple for many Australian families (and those in cricketing countries). It has attracted a certain rose-coloured nostalgia that fills the memories of generations – the sounds of a ball bouncing off a wheelie bin, the shouts of “car!” in quiet suburban streets and maybe sometimes, of smashed glass and the cries of angry parents to not play near the windows.

Cricket fans can connect to stories of backyard cricket, reflecting on simpler times, mates made in the streets and maybe even how they perfected their action in narrow driveways, to avoid trees or to not lose the ball over the neighbour’s fence.

Cricket lovers can not only recall their childhood and growing cricket fandom, but also imagine how their cricketing heroes were likely doing the exact same thing.

In 2009, Steve Cannane wrote the book First Tests – Great Australian Cricketers and The Backyards That Made Them. The book is a testament to the romance of backyard cricket and how we can relate as fans to the icons of the game, who also experienced modest beginnings in similar streets. They were just like us.

But recreation looks different to today’s teens, with the rise of technology and other entertainment options, as well as changing social patterns where organic interactions are less likely or not encouraged.

This can make it hard to find fielders for those long cover drives down the driveway.

I recently discussed this on ABC Radio’s The Conversation Hour. We discussed how children might be less likely to approach other children to play today, which might be a result of COVID restrictions or general concerns about children’s safety.

Australia’s changing housing market is also affecting backyard cricket.

Apartment living and smaller homes in urban areas with limited outdoor space make the activity not only very difficult but not visible to invite others in.

Modern city planning appears focused on making cities more compact and experts note the loss of outdoor space could increase the risks of physical and mental health problems among city residents.

It appears for many, the days of walking down a street, seeing kids playing a game and joining in until your parents called out “dinner” (or “tea” in the rural neighbourhood I grew up in) are long gone.

Finding the fandom balance

Kerry Packer’s 1977 World Series Cricket is what inspired CEO of Softball Australia Sarah Loh to pick up a cricket bat when her family migrated to Australia when she was six years old.

She told ABC Radio Melbourne:

There were those great characters, and that is when my love of sport and cricket came.

While traditional cricket fans often bemoan new formats, flashy tournaments and increased commercialisation of cricket, for many, these innovations also offer entry points, drive interest and allow their fandom to grow.

Cricket Australia’s chief of cricket James Allsopp has spoken of the need for more social forms of cricket to keep kids interested in the game and prevent the drop-off in teen years.

A balance must be achieved in our rapidly changing society – the challenge for cricket’s administrators will now be to connect with kids, women, and diverse communities in ways that respond to their needs and bring them to the sport on their terms.

They must also do this in a way that protects the history that has already brought so many people together every summer in front of televisions, in stadiums and in backyards across the country.