Cricket Australia must make cricket a more inclusive game in Australia: Jones
By ANISaturday, January 15, 2011
SYDNEY - Former Australian batsman Dean Jones has urged Cricket Australia (CA) to work harder to broaden its recruiting horizons.
“The process must start by making cricket in Australia a more inclusive game. One look at the Australian team can’t help, but give the impression that cricket in this country is a game for people of Anglo-Celtic heritage,” Jones wrote in an article for the Age.
“Whether that perception is right or wrong it does not reflect the society in which we live and it has to change.”History tells me that the Australian cricket fraternity tends to look after its own and not worry too much about our indigenous cricketers or people who have migrated to Australia to live,” he added.
Jones said that out of 416 Test cricketers who have played for Australia, only 24 have been born outside of Australia, and the larger majority of those were born in the British Isles or New Zealand.
He further suggested that CA must take inspiration from the Australian Football League (AFL) and get pro-active in getting Australia’s indigenous and migrant youngsters to play the game.
“The AFL found the right way to do it, so why can’t cricket? The AFL now has more than 90 indigenous players on senior lists. They have many players from overseas and are prepared to pinch a few from other football codes,” he said. (ANI)
