Women's cricket gaining ground in Australia

More women are playing cricket in organised competitions in Australia, research by Cricket Australia has revealed.

But the figures also highlight that cricket needs to do more to attract more girls and women into the game, according to Cricket Australia chief executive officer James Sutherland.

Census figures illustrate that more than 7,000 women have taken up cricket over the past year, as female participation in cricket has grown from 40,445 participants nationally (8.7%) in 2002-03, to 47,780 (10.1%).

"We are delighted with the results from the census," said Mr Sutherland. "In particular, it is fantastic to see that female participation in the game is growing at a healthy rate. This is an especially pleasing result as Cricket Australia became fully integrated with women's cricket in July 2003."

"The female cricket market in Australia has a lot of potential to grow, and this year's results help indicate to us that we're heading in the right direction with the women's game. It is a result we're very pleased to see and a trend that we, the state cricket associations and clubs need to keep working on."

For the purpose of the census, the definition of a cricket `participant' is one who plays in an organised cricket competition or program of more than four games per season.