O’Neill said research that was undertaken in conjunction with Cricket Australia was the catalyst for his organisation to embrace the state’s LBGTI community as part of the cricket family.

"Really, what is at the core of our ambition, is the simple belief anyone should feel as though they’re welcome to play cricket," Cricket Victoria’s General Manager of Community Cricket Rohan O’Neill said. "Everyone should be in a position to feel as though they can have a bat, bowl and even wicket-keep."

Cricket Victoria’s work was publicly acknowledged for its work, with employee Emma Staples presented with a Pride in Sport Award and the organisation also nominated for an Australia LBGTI Award in March.

The determination to welcome LBGTI families and community members follows Cricket Victoria’s efforts to open rainbow pathways in a tradition-steeped sport which has been criticised in the past for its conservative image.

"The Big Bash is about bringing family units together. No matter what your family unit is, there is so many Rainbow families and different forms of family, we want to bring all of those families, all of those communities, together. That is our goal."

"That was eye-opening for us because whilst we have our Harmony in Cricket philosophy, and we actively promote Sports for All - which is inclusive of everyone - there were some findings in the study that highlighted we needed to address issues by taking some actions."

Cricket Australia is a signatory to the Anti-Homophobia and Inclusion Framework for Australian sport. While some prominent female cricketers have celebrated their sexuality, including Alex Blackwell and the Sydney Sixers’ South African recruits Dane van Niekerk and Marizanne Kapp who married one-another in July, Hawkins hoped cricket would become a sport where male members of the LBGTI community were comfortable to be themselves.

"We want to work from a grass roots level up and to encourage young LBGTI boys to be involved," she said. "How great would it be for the first male player to come out in an elite [Australian] cricket team to be considered not such a big thing because there’s a mix in the team.

"That mix is in our women’s team, and it means all of our communities - and not just one - is represented. We want to break down those walls, but we’re also very conscious to not stick a rainbow flag on something and saying, 'job done'.

"We know it needs to be done from the grass roots up, and that’s why we want to work with our community cricket team to develop inclusiveness from the grass roots level to encourage that up the pipeline."