Cricket Australia announces indigenous post

Cricket Australia and Northern Territory Cricket today announced the appointment of Michael McGregor to the role of senior officer - indigenous cricket. The position will be based in Darwin and was created to help drive Australian cricket's strategy to increase participation in cricket, particularly among indigenous people, who represent approximately 4% of overall figures.

McGregor's primary responsibility is to develop and implement services and programs to increase the current rate. James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, said providing all Australians with access to cricket was part of the plan to have 555,000 participants by 2009.

"This important role is an investment by Australian cricket into increasing participation of indigenous people," Mr Sutherland said. "The state and territory cricket associations work across most urban and provincial regions to provide people with access to cricket. But we recognise there are some harder-to-reach areas where we need to take responsibility and ensure that appropriate access, resources and services are available so that all Australians have the opportunity to be involved in the game."

Neil Dalrymple, the NT Cricket chief executive, said the appointment was a joint initiative between Cricket Australia and NT Cricket. "While this role will be based in Darwin, it will adopt a national focus with close liaison and working relationships right around Australia," Dalrymple said. "A large focus of the role will be the event management and coordination of the Imparja Cup, Australia's national Indigenous cricket carnival, which is a significant aspect from NT Cricket's perspective."