Days out from the start of the men's Test summer, Cricket Australia have committed to greater Indigenous representation at the crease and steps forward in broader areas of influence launching their third Reconciliation Action Plan.
The Stretch RAP, 2024-2027, announces more than 80 deliverables.
CA is one of four sports organisations with a Reconciliation Australia's 'Stretch' RAP.
Speaking at the launch, the national sporting body's chief executive Nick Hockley said it was an "important day" and "the work starts now".
Reconciliation Australia RAP program manager Savannah Roberts acknowledged the public document for strategic framework comes with accountability.
In the 2023-24 season, there were nine Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identifying cricketers across men's and women's BBL or state and territory association squads while 2.4 per cent of registered players nationally identified as First Nations.
CA's outlines a doubling in investment for Indigenous player participation (to 10 per cent by 2027) - identifying 5-12 year olds as a target group, alongside actions for coaching scholarships, ambassador roles, the National Indigenous Cricket Championships and development camps.
In an extended partnership with the federal government-funded PacificAus Sports, CA is also planning a more regular calendar for Indigenous national teams to compete with neighbouring nations.
"We see a lot of young people here who really want to be involved in cricket and bring their culture with it, and this allows that to take place," Cricket Australia National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cricket Advisory Group co-chair and Gooreng Gooreng man Justin Mohamed told National Indigenous Times.
Mr Mohamed believes the RAP, developed with consultation from the Advisory Group, more generally lays out "achieveable…bite size areas" to make a difference in.
Off field, Cricket Australia have committed to staff-wide cultural learning, and increase in First Nations representation across their workforce.
There's also commitment to greater acknowledging the 1860s Aboriginal first XI team who played home matches and became the first Australian sporting side to tour internationally when they travelled to England.
Speaking on Tuesday, Richard Kennedy, the great, great grandson of Jungunjinanuke, also known as 'Dick a Dick', who was a member of the first touring party, said the period is the start of the sport's history.
Two-time Belinda Clark medallist Ash Gardner is one of four Indigenous cricketers to play a Test match for Australia.
She said the pioneers, like the Aboriginal men's XI and the late Faith Thomas - Australia's first Indigenous women's Test player (cap 48, debuting in 1958) were stories important to know and recognise.
Under the RAP, Cricket Australia has partnered with the Ash Gardner Foundation, which provides breakfasts to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander schoolkids across regional and remote areas in New South Wales, to deliver a cricket program encouraging participation in the sport.
"Hopefully we can have a really positive impact on those kids, not only from a cricketing point of view, but also from an education point of view which ties in with what my foundation is doing," Gardner told National Indigenous Times.
CA senior manager reponsibile for social impact and sustainability Megan Barnett-Smith said the body is aiming for "holistic representation of First Nations people at every level".
"What we really noticed in developing the RAP was that our level of energy and investment and focus internally needed to match what we did externally," she said.
"It's not just about cultural protocols that are observed at our events, and it's not just about cricket participation initiatives at the grassroots through the global level, It's also those real, tangible areas of impact Cricket Australia can have".
