Jason Gillespie says the National Indigenous Cricket Championships has room to grow on a trajectory to seeing more representation at the elite level.

Australia's first male Indigenous Test player told National Indigenous Times he'd like to see the tournament, which has tipped past 30 years of competition, expand into longer formats of the game "and really show what First Nations players can do".

Gillespie played 71 Tests taking 259 wickets, and 97 ODI across a decade-long international career from 1996.

Before him, only one other Indigenous Australian had worn the baggy green; women's cricket and hockey pioneer Faith Thomas.

Current Test players Ash Gardner and Scott Boland have followed in more recent years, in addition to the 1860s touring all Aboriginal sides who played before Test cricket's official beginnings.

Gillespie went on to coach at the domestic level, both in Australia and overseas, and at international level with Pakistan.

"We just want to have a platform in which First Nations players can showcase their skills. I think it's a great initiative," he said of the 2025 National Indigenous Cricket Championships in Mackay.

Seven men's and four women's sides travelled to Yuwibara Country for the week-long tournament in April, with Queensland and Western Australia clinching titles on Monday.

It was the first addition played outside of Alice Springs, where the NICC's founding competition, the Imparja Cup, still continues as an independent tournament which began in the mid-1990s.

"I'd like to see it be even bigger and better," Gillespie said, "not just T20, but incorporate some 50 over cricket and really show what First Nations players can do in the cricket space".

Gillespie's son Jackson represented South Australia at this year's tournament.

"It was pretty special," the former international player and coach said.

In November Cricket Australia committed to pursuing an increase in participation, representation at the elite level and within the game's structures with their third Reconciliation Action Plan.

Less than 10 First Nations players have represented the national men's and women's sides across all formats.

In the 2023-24 summer there were three male and six female players in Big Bash League or state and territory association squads.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 2.8 per cent of players in national pathway teams, and 2.4 per cent of registered participants at all levels around the country, according to Cricket Ausrtralia's RAP.

In the same period, First Nations kids made up 3.75 per cent of participation in Cricket Blast, a nationwide entry-level program for ages 10 and under.

More Indigenous cricketers in baggy greens and national side uniforms is the goal, Gillespie said.

"I'd love to see Cricket Australia put more resources into First Nations cricket, because it'll just go from strength to strength, and more representation in professional squads and playing for states and Australia," he said.

Member of Cricket Australia's National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cricket Advisory Committee (NATSICAC), Steve Goodall, doesn't expect to see an overnight shift.

More needs to happen, Mr Goodall said, despite successes and growth of initiatives like the NICC.

In addition to pathways, and relationships between junior structures, he said "getting more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people involved in cricket, itself" is a crucial piece of the puzzle.

He added the upfront costs to play cricket, compared to other sports, can also be a factor.

"The number of First Nations players at the elite level for younger generations to look up to as role models is also lacking," Mr Goodall said.

"Until such time that we bridge those sorts of gaps, we aren't going to see the likes of Jason Gillespie, Dan Christian, Ash Gardner and others (coming through)."

Goodall feels things are headed in the right direction, but added "I think if you're a realist and if you're honest, it's not going to happen straight away, because there's a lot of work to be done".

Ex-Australian limited overs allrounder and global T20 cricket star Dan Christian told National Indigenous Times he'd like to see cricket move towards the same level of Indigenous representation as the AFL and NRL's men's and women's leagues.

He said the NICC is "brilliant" as both a pathway and opportunity for the cricketers taking part.

"Ash Gardner is the best example of it…she's the mainstay in that Australian team now, and she came through this competition. She came through in the Imparja Cup in Alice Springs," Christian told National Indigenous Times.

"I think it's a wonderful competition, and it's creating some really viable pathways for a lot of young kids coming through."

With their RAP, Cricket Australia committed to; "Sustainably strengthen opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to play, attend and follow cricket".

Within this, Cricket Australia flagged a doubling of investment into Indigenous cricket engagement activities via growth funding streams, and consultation with Indigenous communities to identify "barriers and opportunities for growing representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in high performance and national teams".