Författare: Vaughan Cruickshank Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical E

Cricket originated in England, but has been spread worldwide by British soldiers and settlers in the past few hundred years.

It is now the second most popular sport in the world in terms of number of fans, after soccer.

This spread has been most successful in the Indian sub-continent, which is now considered the epicentre of world cricket.

This region includes countries such as Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

According to the International Cricket Council (ICC), 90% of the world’s cricket fans are from the sub-continent.

History of cricket in the Indian sub-continent

Cricket was introduced to the Indian sub-continent by sailors and traders from the East India Company in the early 18th century.

The first recorded cricket match in this region was played between British sailors in western India in 1721.

Introducing English sports and traditions was intended to assert British dominance and cultural superiority. However, Indian elites embraced cricket as a way to gain favour with their rulers.

Over time, cricket became popular with the entire population.

Modern popularity

Cricket is now the most popular sport in countries such as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Afghanistan.

Cricket matches between India and Pakistan are considered one of the biggest sporting events in the world, and are regularly watched by nearly half a billion fans.

While cricket is also very popular in other successful cricketing nations such as Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom, it does not enjoy the same unrivalled status as it does in the Indian sub-continent.

Cricket as religion

Cricket is now a hugely important part of the region’s culture and identity.

It has the ability to cut across regional, ethnic, social class and religious divides, and unite countries in a way no other sport or cultural institution can.

Indeed, cricket has been described as a religion, particularly in India where it brings people of all faiths and backgrounds together.

While politicians and religious leaders in the region have used the popularity of cricket to their advantage, “cricket diplomacy” has also been used to cool tensions and diplomatic issues, particularly between India and Pakistan.

It even has the power to temporarily stop civil wars. In 2007, the Tamil Tigers militant group declared a ceasefire with the government of Sri Lanka for the duration of the Cricket World Cup.

Why is cricket so popular?

Cricket can be played anywhere. In large South Asian cities, it is often played in cramped spaces such as rooftops, markets and busy streets.

Variations such as “tape ball cricket” and “street cricket” mean players can simply use a rubbish bin, milk crate, or marks on a wall as the wickets.

The bat can be a stick, and a rubber or tennis ball can be taped to ensure it deviates in the air to make things more challenging for a batter.

Games of cricket can be seen just about anywhere on the Indian sub-continent.

This softer ball means equipment such as pads and helmets are not needed.

Many of South East Asia’s cricket legends such as Wasim Akram and Sachin Tendulkar first honed their skills in chaotic street games that required quick reflexes and improvisation.

Winning the Cricket World Cup in 1983 (India), 1992 (Pakistan), 1996 (Sri Lanka) and 2011 (India) made cricketers heroes and role models for new generations.

A lack of success in other sports – except India and Pakistan in hockey, particularly during the 20th century – means cricket has little competition for the hearts of sports fans in the region.

Media momentum

Huge media coverage and sponsorship across the sub-continent has ensured significant money and resources have been invested back into cricket.

For instance, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has previously earned billions of dollars over a five year period from lucrative television rights.

Much of this money is from the Indian Premier League – a Twenty20 competition that has quickly become the biggest cricket league in the world.

Similar successful (but not as profitable) T20 competitions have been set up in countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The majority of the ICC’s revenue now comes from India. Consequently, the BCCI has increasing control over the ICC and its decisions.

Additionally, India will be given 38.5% of the ICC’s profits in the 2024-2027 cycle – 105 nations will share the other 61.5%.

The BCCI have invested their profits in cricket stadium upgrades, centres of excellence and world class training staff .

While these investments help build future cricket pathways and facilities for the next generation of aspiring Indian cricketers, the ICC profit split has been criticised for making the richest countries richer and missing the chance to grow the game in other countries.

What about women’s cricket?

Cricket has the potential to be even more popular in the region if it embraces gender equality. One example of this would be Afghanistan, if the Taliban lifts its current ban on women playing cricket.

Countries such as Australia have refused to play men’s cricket matches against Afghanistan until conditions for women and girls improve.

Female cricketers in the Indian sub-continent often have to deal with barriers such as reduced funding and salaries, death threats, sexism and conservative gendered expectations.

However, the success of women’s teams has resulted in increased acceptance of women’s cricket in the Indian sub-continent in recent years.

Notable recent initiatives include the BCCI launching a successful women’s T20 competition in 2023. The recent ICC T20 World Cup was the first time women received the same prize money as their male counterparts.

These decisions align with the ICC prioritising the growth of the women’s game.

Continued popularity and growth

The deep passion for the game and continued success of teams from the Indian sub-continent is likely to ensure cricket’s continued popularity.

Cricket is also growing in popularity in countries like the United States, thanks to large Indian communities – in fact, the US co-hosted the 2024 T20 World Cup.

The addition of cricket to the Los Angeles Olympic program in 2028, should ensure that sub-continent cricket fans support the popularity of cricket in the years ahead. Läs mer…

Sport and physical activity are an important part of Australian culture and society.

But how do we know which sports have the highest participation rates in Australia? And does this change depend on factors such as age, gender and location?

Since 2015, the Australian Sports Commission has been conducting the AusPlay survey to answer questions like these.

The data suggests those who are more physically active are generally younger, employed, highly educated, and earn a higher household income.

What is AusPlay?

AusPlay is a large national survey that focuses on how much sport and physical activity Australians participate in. It collects national, state and territory data on more than 600 different activities and who participates in them.

These activities include popular pursuits such as bushwalking and cycling, as well as less mainstream sports such as bobsledding and wheelchair rugby.

Other questions in the survey are about things like sports injuries, motivations for participating, barriers to participating, and use of technology like smart watches.

The data collected in the survey is used to do things like:

inform government investment, policy and programs
help sports organisations better understand participation and track it over time
explore the links between participation and other factors (such as age, injuries as household income).

In 2023, AusPlay changed to an online survey instead of telephone interviewing. As such, this year’s results cannot be directly compared to earlier figures because the data have been collected differently.

AusPlay 2024 participation findings

The latest results include data collected from July 2023 to June 2024. Forty thousand adults (aged 15 and older) completed the survey. Some respondents are also parents, so data were also collected for around 8,800 children aged 14 and under.

The activities with the highest participation by Australians over 15 years old are walking, fitness/gym, bushwalking, running/jogging and swimming.

The top activities for children are swimming, soccer, dance, basketball and gymnastics.

While all these activities are popular for many Australians, there are some obvious differences between age groups.

Younger Australians participate in more team-based activities that require speed and agility, whereas older Australians prefer to participate in less intense aerobic activities.

Many of these sports are popular across genders. However, there are some differences: some examples of activities more popular with women include pilates, walking and yoga, whereas basketball, soccer and golf are more popular with men.

Some 84% of Australian adults and 71% of children are considered active, which is defined as participating in sport and physical activity at least once per year.

However, only 66% of adults and 40% of children are active at least once per week. Just 48% of adults and 14% of children are active at least three times per week.

These figures indicate the majority of Australians may not be meeting the national physical activity and exercise guidelines.

For example, these guidelines recommend adults be active most days, preferably every day.

The most popular activities for adults were non-organised – not run by an organisation or club, but likely to be organised by the adults themselves (66%) or with friends (50%) in a public place.

This finding supports the trend towards flexible, informal sport and physical activity that has been noticed by researchers in recent years.

About 40% of adults participated in an organised activity, which was most likely to occur in a sports club or association (13%) or gym/fitness centre (11%).

Sports club or association (27%) and gym/fitness club (19%) were also the most popular locations for children’s organised participation.

The ACT reported the highest rates of participation of any state or territory.

What else did AusPlay find?

More physically active adult Australians tended to be younger, employed, more highly educated, and earning a higher household income.

For example, 94% of adults with household incomes more than $200,000 participated in sport and physical activity, compared with 79% of adults with a household income of less than $70,000.

This finding may be related to the current cost of living crisis.

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

In terms of cost to participate in sport, adults paid an average of $1,238 each year; with men spending more ($1,377) than women ($1,074). Children paid an average of $944 each year to participate in sport. However, girls ($1,048) paid more than boys ($843).

The top reasons for Australian adults to be active are to improve fitness, for fun/enjoyment, to lose weight, to be outdoors and for social reasons.

Key barriers for adults include poor health/injury, increasing age, disability, laziness and lack of time. The main barriers for children are being too young, not liking physical activity, and cost.

The most common technology used were headphones, tracking apps and wearable technology.

New survey questions

Adding more questions to the online survey this year has meant there are new findings that will allow for better understanding of the participation behaviours of Australia’s diverse population.

These new findings include insights on volunteering, injuries, diversity and inclusion.

Volunteers contribute more than 145 million hours to sport in Australia each year, most commonly in roles such as umpiring and coaching.

The most common disabilities reported by participants aged 18+ were musculoskeletal conditions, mental health issues and cardiovascular conditions.

The most common types of injuries were soft-tissue injuries such as torn muscles and tendinitis.

In line with the Australian sport participation strategy “Play Well” and its motto “everyone has a place in sport,” additional demographic questions were included focused on sex at birth and sexual orientation for adults over the age of 18.

These questions will continue to be included in future AusPlay surveys. Läs mer…